World-renowned media artist Alexander Gelman, whose work resides in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art and Cooper-Hewitt in New York, The Smithsonian Institution, and Bibliotheque National de France in Paris, has created a collection of masterpiece chess sets in collaboration with traditional Japanese craftsman using centuries-old lacquerware and porcelain techniques.
Inspired to bridge centuries old traditions in the context of the contemporary luxury lifestyle, Gelman, an admirer of the Yamanaka craftsmen and Kutani porcelain painters of Ishikawa prefecture, began a collaboration with them in March 2008 with the aim to create something lasting using lacquer, a material used commonly in Japan but rarely recognized for its exceptional characteristics like a smooth, glossy finish and lightness to the hand and eye. Combining Gelman's uncompromising creativity with the artisans' superlative skills, extraordinary precision, and knowledge passed down over generations, the chess sets capture the very essence of lacquer and convey its natural beauty to a global audience in the form of a game enjoyed by tens of millions worldwide, thereby liberating it from the functional aesthetics of tableware and elevating it to a new category of contemporary art-form.
As world cultures becoming more and more disposable, said Gelman to the reporters at the New York launch in December 2009, I cherish the opportunity to engage in the process informed by generations of artisans, a centuries-worth tradition of ingenuity and refinement. Collaboration of like-minded individuals empowered by creative integrity, skills, and pursuit of perfection brings best in everyone and enables the link between past and future. Nothing is more enjoyable than creating tangible lasting objects embodying thought, tradition and meaning.
As part of his foray into lacquerware, Gelman also created a custom, one-of-a-kind lacquer bicycle. To build it, he handpicked the highest grade components from Japanese, Italian, Spanish and the American manufacturers.
Each set, which took up to 10 months to create, is made of the finest materials, including four types of lacquer finish: matte vermillion lacquer, extra-glossy black lacquer, fukiurushi (wiped lacquer), and gold makie lacquer. The result is a stunning and unique chess set that conveys the Japanese spirit captured and interpreted by Gelman, a modern-day ambassador of Japanese culture.
Gelman now joins an illustrious group of international artists who have designed their own chess sets over the years, including Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, Isamu Noguchi, Yoko Ono, and Damien Hirst. Gelman's Chess debuted in Tokyo at Gallery Kakitsubata, followed by exhibitions in New York in November/December, Paris in January 2010 at Mitukoshi Etoile, Genova in February and Milan in March/April 2010. Prices range from $55,000.00 to $125,000.00.
