Here’s the whole bloody affair! I’ve been pretty quiet here on Tumblr and in particular about 1001 Knights, which is a bummer because it’s filled with beautiful, people positive artwork made by glorious people. From the looks of things and how the Kickstarter has been going, many of you already know that, but for those who don’t, this project is going to be amazing!
I decided to make two pieces about Chess, a game I love deeply, but one which has a decidedly Eurocentric and patriarchal bent to it’s inherent design. Still, it’s fascinating to me how feared and respected the queen is as a piece both at the chessboard and outside of it. I wanted to expand that kind of power, that fear and that respect to a (decidedly morbid) and strange take on the game, while keeping the ‘kings’ (as well as other pieces) in each piece as androgynous figures led by each queen. The names of each respective piece are ‘A Queen Protects’ and ‘A Queen Watches’, reflecting how such a powerful piece, whether she is active (protects) on the board or not (watches), frequently controls the game and it’s players.
Looking back, a lot of what I was thinking about in regards to games as a whole is actually reflected in these pieces, in regards to both race and gender and how they’ve intersected with both a game (chess) and a medium (games as a whole) that are seen as primarily Eurocentric and masculine. At the time I was caught in making a cool image, but some of the decisions made in the formalities of the piece and the designs of the characters were certainly stepping toward challenging the expected. If anything, I wish I had pushed that somewhat further.
Aesthetically, I was hoping to start to emulate the feel of older illustrations. These two pieces were the beginning of my increased focus on commanding gouache as a medium more effectively. I also hoped to have a bit of a stage like feel to these two illustrations, and to give this a bit of a tactility that felt somewhat similar to old tapestries. Stylistically, there’s a lot here that I would enjoy returning to!
Thanks for having a look at my work, and please support 1001 knights! The project has (deservingly) done splendidly. Conversely, it, it’s organizers and my fellow artists have earned a strong finish! For all of you who already have shared and backed this, Thank you so much!
