World Chess Hall of Fame 'Painted Pieces' Exhibition 2018

Purling London Art Chess at World Chess HOF photo credit Michael DeFilippo — **Purling London Art Chess Knights at World Chess HOF**
**Photo credit: Michael DeFilippo**

Simon Purks and Colm Mulligan at Purling London exhibition photo credit World Chess HOF — Purling’s Simon Purkis and Colm Mulligan at World Chess HOF’s ‘Painted Pieces’ exhibition **with Tom Hackney‘s **Art Chess** set**

The prestigious World Chess Hall of Fame in St. Louis MO, USA hosted a major exhibition from 12th April – 16th September 2018 entitled ‘Painted Pieces: Art Chess from Purling London’. The show, dubbed ‘Tradition with a Twist’ featured our classic Staunton-design chess sets, hand-painted by twenty celebrated painters, illustrators, sculptors and street artists from around the world.

The exhibition included multimedia Art Chess sets, pieces, boards, and interactive experiences created especially for the World Chess HOF show.

Artists who made their debut with Purling include: street art pioneer Thierry Noir who was the first artist to paint the Berlin Wall; internationally known Mr Doodle with a chess set covered in his ‘Graffiti Spaghetti’; and Lhouette with an incredible Maximalist board and frame. We were also excited to introduce a stunning Marcel Duchamp inspired chess set by Tom Hackney; a set entitled ‘Expand your mind’ by Christiaan Nagel – famous for his mushroom sculptures; a beautiful chess board by London street and studio artist Darren John and a wonderfully eccentric, Space inspired playable sculpture by Andrew Hancock.

Further artworks included in the show were by famous American painter Sophie Matisse; feminist and activist Daniela Raytchev; photorealist Kate Brinkworth; stencil artist DS among other celebrated and thought-provoking artists.

World Chess Hall of Fame Thierry Noir chess set — **Purling’s Colm with Thierry Noir x Purling ‘Chess Noir’. T. Raymonzrek’s chess table ‘Chemical Warfare’ is shown on the left**

The themes explored in the show included:

The #metoo campaign and female equality,
Plastics in the ocean,
Chance verses strategy,
Peace (and chemical warfare),
The balance between opposites (creation & destruction),
Marcel Duchamp (and retinal art),
Nativity,
Love,
Space,
The seasons,
Maximalism,
Life long learning and more

In addition, museum guests were able to play on Purling chess sets in Virtual Reality(!) via our collaboration with video game developer Ripstone. Art Chess sets by artists, Nette Robinson, Olivia Pilling and Mr. Jiver were available to play in spectacular virtual environments including a Roman villa and a volcano. Find out more HERE.

**Art Chess** by Sophie Matisse x Purling London ‘Alice in Wonderland‘
**Photo credit: World Chess Hall of Fame**

Alongside the exhibition were several events, such as ‘Meet the Artist’ with Daniela Raytchev and Nette Robinson’s talk and workshop for specially invited guests to create a unique chess set for the World Chess HOF Collection! Read more about this event HERE.

We were delighted to collaborate with the World Chess Hall of Fame on this exhibition. We would like to thank Dr. Jeanne and Rex Sinquefield, Shannon Bailey, Michael DeFilippo and all the WCHOF team for their wonderful support.

Painted Pieces: Art Chess from Purling London,
Exhibition ran from: April 12th – September 16th 2018.

World Chess Hall of Fame, 4652 Maryland Avenue, Saint Louis, MO 63108, USA.
+1 (314) 367-WCHF (9243) | worldchesshof.org
Follow @WorldChessHOF @PurlingLondon

Further reading: Alongside artists including Barbara Kruger, Yoko Ono and Rachel Whiteread, the World Chess Hall of Fame invited Purling London’s Daniela Raytchev and Crystal Fischetti to exhibit as part of the ‘Ladies’ Knight: A Female Perspective on Chess‘ exhibition in 2015.