Jaque
It consists of two abstract figures based on the composition of the work “The Conversation” by Luis Benedit that represent two pieces of the chess game. The user can interact using the mouse and keyboard keys to change elements of the sketch and give them narrative meaning.
Technical, aesthetic and conceptual development
To make this sketch I took inspiration from Luis Benedit, who takes elements of informalism and uses geometric shapes, with flat tones and synthetic shapes to create figures. The idea of this sketch is to take Luis Benedit’s work, La Conversación, and transform it into an almost humorous scene using abstract figures reminiscent of chess pieces and a repetitive background reminiscent of a game board. An attempt is made to generate a “conversation” between the figures shown and give them a narrative character. José Luis BREA, says about the generation of narratives ”(…) In three different ways the new artistic practices are assuming this responsibility. Firstly, through narration. The use of the image-technique and the image-movement, in their capacity to expand in an internal time of story, multiplies the possibilities of the generation of narratives.”
Luis Benedit mostly created figures that refer to the organic, due to his interest in biology, that is why I decided to create my figures with a theme that generated interest for me, chess, since I always had a personal appreciation for the game, and create the conversation between the two pieces represented, purposely a bishop and a king (and sometimes a knight) referring to the bishop and knight check; where with the user’s interactions one of the pieces puts the other in “check” and the latter feels fear. I found it very interesting what BREA says about the fact that there are no works of art “There are no “works of art”. There are work and practices that we can call artistic. (…) But they do not have to do with the production of particular objects, but only with the public promotion of certain circulatory effects” and that is why the use of the word sketch to refer to this work is deliberate since I do not consider this work a work but rather a product. From this angle BREA discusses how many forms of digital art, such as “computer art” or “cd-rom art,” have been considered obsolete or have failed to contribute significantly to contemporary art due to their inability to self-criticism and evolution: “Computer art can with certainty be said to have been abandoned - or even to have never produced work of real interest - since the territories of the synthesis image and the art of programming that were its own have revealed total impotence to contribute real findings to the tradition of immanent self-criticism that characterizes the development of 20th century art.”
To carry out this sketch I used input methods for user interactions and 2D primitive figures for the creation of the pieces, for the movement of the king I used certain coordinates of the canvas where if the mouse is over one of them or a close range, the king moves with random movements.
Literature BREA, José Luis. (2002). “Breve (y desordenado) antiglosario –o diccionario de tópicos- sobre el arte electrónico” en La era postmedia. Acción comunicativa, prácticas (post)artísticas y dispositivos neomediales. Salamanca: CASA Editorial, pp. 4-8
BREA, José Luis. (2008). “Redefinición de las prácticas artísticas (s. 21)” en El tercer umbral. Estatuto de las prácticas artísticas en la era del capitalismo cultural. Murcia: CENDEAC, pp. 106-113
https://museomoderno.org/mapadelarte/artistas/benedit-luis-fernando/