Brooklynn Johnson
Rachel Thomander

Surfing & Chess

June 03 – 26, 2021

Spring/Covid-19 Gallery Hours:
Friday–Sunday, 12pm–5pm and by appointment

Opening Reception: Thursday, June 3rd, 5-8pm

Surfing and Chess came to be through writing separate stream-of-consciousness word lists. We paired words from each list that effectively occupied the space between our personal areas of exploration and our common ground. The words “surfing” and “chess” collapsed that space in a funny and challenging way, becoming a platform for works addressing difference, contradiction, and humor. Approaching both topics as novices, we hoped to challenge what we understood of them and their relation to each other.

While chess pieces maneuver through the tight boundaries of a grid, surfers move fluidly to move with the behavior of waves. Chess is calculated and predictable until human fallibility intervenes, and surfing requires human adaptability to a more unpredictable element.

Considering the contrast between the two, Surfing & Chess explores what happens visually and conceptually when these disparate ways of moving and thinking come together. What are the visuals associated with these different “ways of being”? What would the environment look like where these activities and ideologies coexist?

Working with these questions revealed unexpected similarities between both topics. Surfing and chess rely on rules, strategy, improvisation, and play. The tension that provided germination for our work slowly evolved into a fluid dance between themes.