Providing exercise for grey cells, chess is usually played to strengthen a player’s mental clarity, fortitude and stability. However Purling London Couture Chess is designed to raise awareness of the dangers of chemical warfare. Blending art with the game of kings, the Couture Chess table by T.Raymonzrek delivers a serious message in a tragicomic manner.
Motivated by art, the Couture Chess table is a 34 piece, triple weighted chess set making a vital and thought provoking statement. Conceived to deliver a truly unforgettable game experience, it reflects the on-going battle over scarce resources such as gold and oil. Even the chess pieces are deliberately painted to reflect these pricey and in-demand goods. The artist has also added a feature of pressing a button that sets of the smoke over the board. Though the player can eliminate the opponent with this new-age toxic move but in real it is added to represent a chemical attack. To combat such an attack of modern warfare, both the players involved are provided with gas masks.
Tony Raymonzrek elucidates the inclusion of such a gas-emitting, thought-provoking feature in the game of chess. He states that “Either player, at any time during the game, can set off the dirty bomb as a sign of weakness and evil; if they so choose. What would it take for the player to decide the only way out is to completely extinguish the enemy with a chemical attack?” The London based artist also added that this technically makes the player a winner, but leaves him as a moral loser.
Interpreting the current political, historical, and scientific circumstances, the artist has designed this unique chess artwork to raise awareness of the dangers of advanced military technology and modern warfare in the wake of ever more scarce and valuable resources in our 21st Century.
Available for over $85,000, the Couture Chess by T.Raymonzrek is available at Debut Contemporary, Notting Hill, London.
