December 13, 2011
We are proud to have a work of the internationally-recognized and Saint Louis native, Tom Friedman in our exhibition, OUT OF THE BOX: Artists Play Chess. Friedman’s Untitled, 2005 is a whimsical, distinctive artwork including 32-unique chess pieces, a board/table, tree stumps as stools, wall mounts that double as storage units for the pieces, and a minimalist-like “cube” storage unit for the ensemble.
In an interesting twist, Friedman’s pieces are said to be a mini-retrospective of some of his best-known art works and include a pencil shown in reverse prospective, a bee constructed out of construction paper, a modified Crest toothpaste box, a miniature portrait of the artist carved out of Styrofoam, a melted lollipop, a booger, and a plastic cup full of gravel made out of Play-Doh.
As with his sculptural works, Friedman’s chess pieces play with the nature of the material they are intended to represent—as seen with the Play-Doh “gravel” and the bee, what appear to be a miniature sculpture of a man made out of foil and a pink Styrofoam peanut are in fact heavy metal cast pieces.
OUT OF THE BOX: Artists Play Chess is curated by Bradley Bailey and is on view until February 12, 2012.