+ CHESS BOARD
This piece started with my obsession of all things checkered. Preceding the previous project, ‘Experimental Lantern Series’, I continued testing the materiality of cow intestine - stretching, stitching and drying it within a circular metal frame. Instead of creating a sculptural enclosed form, I kept things flat and using charcoal, drew the image of a chessboard on the dried canvas. This board tests the strength and tautness of the intestine by doubling as a tray. As my curiosity grew, I played around with forming the sausage casing to take form of a mold. In this case, I stitched the adaptable material around cups and jars and let dry for two days before peeling them off.
The essence of these pieces is to challenge the user, to understand the reality and physicality of these familiar objects and begin to consider them in a vastly new setting and materiality. The Cow Intestine Chess Board and Cup were created as an ode to Surrealist artist, Meret Elisabeth Oppenheim’s ‘Le Déjeuner en fourrure’ or ‘Breakfast in Fur’ (1936) as well as the Japanese philosophy of Chindogu - the art of the unuseless idea. These two objects exist as a surreal and logic-defying installation, objects that work but are entirely impractical.
[cow intestine + thread + charcoal + upcycled metal frame]