Category: Insights

—Brittany Jasin

Keith Haring made art like he was running out of time. His passion, optimism, and the work ethic that he exhibited throughout his art and life are inspiring. Though his career was short, his work continues to captivate the next generation. Part of the universal draw of Haring’s work has been its accessibility. Anyone can come across a work by Keith Haring whether it is on a t-shirt in the mall or in a major art gallery. Art by Keith Haring is for everyone.

One of the places you can experience a stunning collection of Haring’s work, that reaches across his lifetime, is the current show Keith Haring: Radiant Gambit at the World Chess Hall of Fame. In this two-floor exhibition, you are able to experience a wide range of work. Dancing figures, bright colors, and bold lines are everywhere. You also get to see some great photographs that give a glimpse into the height of his career.

Haring’s spirit and hope can be seen within one of his famous icons, Radiant Baby. There are several examples of Radiant Baby that can be seen in the exhibition. One stands out specifically within Haring’s Icons print series. Untitled (from the Icons print series) 1990, a large silk-screened print. Fun, life, energy can all be seen within the simple lines and colors chosen for this print. This series was created towards the end of Haring’s life and really encapsulates his legacy as an artist. This piece accomplishes so much in a few lines and colors. For Keith Haring, the radiant baby symbolizes innocence, purity, youthful energy, and goodness—all qualities that are imperative for the world right now.

Radiant Baby along with Haring’s other figures from Haring’s beloved works also appear in two Keith Haring inspired chess sets.The Keith Haring Chess Set from 2019 has barking dogs lining up as pawns for both sides, jumping figures as knights, and the radiant baby held up as the king. This whimsical chess set remains true to the spirit of Haring’s philosophy of art belonging to everyone, including people who play chess! The other chess set from 2001 was created by the Keith Haring Foundation after his death and features radiant baby as the pawns, dancing dogs as the queens, and as the king is one of Haring’s birds with a tiny crown. The crown is a nod to Jean-Michel Basquiat, one of Keith Haring’s friends and a famous artist. Basquiat often used symbols in his artwork like Haring, and the crown drawn with three points is one of Basquiat’s icons. Art history and chess combine within these two chess sets and each of them become a multi-layered functional work of art.

A fact about Keith Haring that people may not know was his respect and love for children. He created a series of works that were made for children and also created art with them. Haring believed, “Children are colorblind and still free of all the complications, greed, and hatred that will slowly be instilled in them through life.” Adjacent to the Icon series in the exhibition is The Story of Red and Blue. It is a humorous 21-print installation of two colors taking many forms and then eventually coming together to create a new color. Animals, people, shapes, are all put together to create a fun and whimsical piece. This piece is obviously geared towards children and made me want to read more about Haring’s care for children. He organized children’s art workshops, painted a mural at a children’s hospital in Paris, and even created a series of prints with a young visitor to the Pop Shop, the Kalish series, which you can see on view on the opposing wall of the gallery.

Haring’s legacy also lives on through charitable work. In 1989, just after he was diagnosed with AIDS, he established the Keith Haring Foundation. The foundation was created to ensure Haring’s philanthropic work would continue on after his death. The two main focuses of this foundation are to support organizations in the fight against HIV and AIDS and to maintain a collection of art while preserving the archives of Keith Haring’s life and work.

Overall, this exhibition of Keith Haring’s work is a gift that fulfills Haring’s wish to have art that is accessible to everyone and bring multiple audiences together through his art. As Haring famously stated, “Art is nothing if you don’t reach every segment of the people.” Keith Haring: Radiant Gambit at the World Chess Hall of Fame accomplishes that, and more.

Keith Haring: Radiant Gambit is on view through May 16, 2021. A virtual tour of the exhibition is available on the World Chess Hall of Fame’s YouTube channel.

Brittany Jasin is an artist based in Saint Louis. She currently works as a gallery attendant at the World Chess Hall of Fame. Jasin assists with daily operations as well as installation and research projects with the museum staff.

This month’s Featured Chess Set is part of the collection of the World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF). Since its creation in 1986, the WCHOF has endeavored to highlight the history and cultural significance of the game of chess. The WCHOF’s collection is diverse and includes sets once owned by legendary players, mass-produced sets with lively pop culture themes, antique ivory sets, travel sets, as well as chess computers. Through these artifacts, the WCHOF illustrates how chess has evolved through its over 1500-year history.

Dreidels take the place of familiar chess pieces in this decorative Hanukkah-themed chess set. The four-sided tops are played with during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. Israeli artist Eran Grebler created the set. Grebler, a second-generation ceramist, has been creating Judaica for over 30 years. He runs a gallery called the Draydel House, which displays over 800 of his creations.

This month’s Featured Chess Set is part of the collection of the World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF). Since its creation in 1986, the WCHOF has endeavored to highlight the history and cultural significance of the game of chess. The WCHOF’s collection is diverse and includes sets once owned by legendary players, mass-produced sets with lively pop culture themes, antique ivory sets, travel sets, as well as chess computers. Through these artifacts, the WCHOF illustrates how chess has evolved through its over 1500-year history.

Michael Buckley donated November’s Featured Chess Set to the World Chess Hall of Fame. While a marine engineer aboard an American Merchant Marine ship, Buckley purchased the set in a shop owned by a retired captain in the South Korean Merchant Marine. The set has hand-carved pieces, with dragons as knights and two-tiered pagodas as the rooks. The heavy box-board, which doubles as storage for the pieces, has carved decorations resembling dragons.

October’s Featured Chess Set is part of the collection of the World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF). Since its creation in 1986, the WCHOF has endeavored to highlight the history and cultural significance of the game of chess. The WCHOF’s collection is diverse and includes sets once owned by legendary players, mass-produced sets with lively pop culture themes, antique ivory sets, travel sets, as well as chess computers. Through these artifacts, the WCHOF illustrates how chess has evolved through its over 1500-year history.

Dorothy and many of the denizens of Oz appear in this chess set with the theme of the beloved children’s book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Author L. Frank Baum published the book in 1900, and according to his introduction, the book aspired to be, “a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heartaches and nightmares are left out.” W.W. Denslow’s illustrations for the original printing provide the inspiration for these whimsical pieces.

September’s Featured Chess Set is part of the collection of the World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF). Since its creation in 1986, the WCHOF has endeavored to highlight the history and cultural significance of the game of chess. The WCHOF’s collection is diverse and includes sets once owned by legendary players, mass-produced sets with lively pop culture themes, antique ivory sets, travel sets, as well as chess computers. Through these artifacts, the WCHOF illustrates how chess has evolved through its over 1500-year history. This month’s featured chess set is a new donation to the collection of the WCHOF.

Created from carefully bent wire, the pieces in this set portray the pieces as elegant, energetic silhouettes. Born in Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia, at a young age Ayrton Robert Johnson moved to New York state with his family. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Agronomy at Cornell University, and he later earned a Masters of Arts in Education from the University of Rochester. After graduating, he taught high school chemistry in Ithaca, New York, until he retired in 1982. His daughter Cathy Spengler states that, “He was as much an artist by temperament as he was a scientist…Creating things was his primary pursuit and source of enjoyment outside of work, especially in retirement.” He created this unique chess set design while living for a year in Berkeley, California.

Since its creation in 1986, the WCHOF has endeavored to highlight the history and cultural significance of the game of chess. The WCHOF’s collection is diverse and includes sets once owned by legendary players, mass-produced sets with lively pop culture themes, antique ivory sets, travel sets, as well as chess computers. Through these artifacts, the WCHOF illustrates how chess has evolved through its over 1500-year history. August’s Featured Chess Set is on loan from fiber artist Kacey Cowdery.

While working on her BFA at Maryville University, Kacey Cowdery faced the challenge to create a chess set in her senior design class. Students could choose their medium, and she chose fiber. Cowdery states she created the set in 1978, “when fiber was beyond the periphery of acceptable art—unless it pushed into those boundaries with creativity.” A couple of semesters previously, she had used bell peppers as her ‘go-to’ imagery, and thought “why not fall back on it again.” The travel chess set features snap on seeds, with each of the back rank pieces marked with embroidery. Of playing with the set, she states, “My daughter was a rather good player, I was not. I was able to win a few games with her until she became familiar with my stitched code on the play pieces.”

—Alexa Clavijo

As I walk into the Dare to Know: Chess in the Age of Reason exhibition, I instantly feel surrounded by history. Even though I’m not a well-seasoned chess master, there are several unique chess sets and collectibles that catch my eye. As an artist, I am immediately drawn to the skillful craft and the aesthetics of the hand-carved chess sets. However, some of my favorite pieces in Dare to Know celebrate the wonder, mystery, and illusion of the Enlightenment.

In an occult-themed case is the “Tarot Cards of Marseilles,” a collection of time-worn cards from the turn of the 18th century used to predict the future. They feature a distinct, illustrative style deserving of appreciation. Even more impressive is the fact that, in addition to chess, Tarot proliferated the Enlightenment era. Much like chess’ duality, a game deep-seated in logic and rationality, Tarot offered a balance with its open-ended interpretations and mysticism.

Also included in the display is a beautifully ornate Freemasons apron, which would have been worn by a Master Mason while performing specific rites and ceremonies. Along with mystical symbols, an iconic black and white checkerboard pattern decorates the floor of a temple, and is considered a metaphor for the “eternal opposition of life and death.”

An adjacent vitrine contains artifacts that represent one of the greatest illusions from the Enlightenment, “The Mechanical Turk.” Also known as the “Automaton Chess Player,” the Turk was toured as a machine that played chess against human opponents. However, unbeknownst to the audience, the machine had a secret compartment underneath where a human chess player would track the moves of the opponent and articulate the Turk itself. Unfortunately, the original Turk was burned in a fire in 1854 but was later reconstructed in the 1980s, which I was able to see for myself at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In the context of the time, it must have been thrilling to play against an “intelligent” machine, blurring the lines between illusion and reality.

Chess’s influence during the Enlightenment goes far beyond its decorative and playful appearance and is much more than a board game. I am impressed that chess holds many philosophical interpretations, logical reasoning, and a world of wonder. “Dare to Know: Chess in the Age of Reason” is on view at the World Chess Hall of Fame through November 1, 2020, and is free and open to the public.