Chess on a Boot 2017

Curator: This is David Michael Hinnebusch's "Chess on a Boot," from 2017, created using mixed media. Editor: It's certainly... vibrant! All the bright colors are immediately striking. The title is interesting too, "Chess on a Boot" suggesting a game perhaps played in an unconventional setting? How does the title and materials used inform your understanding of the piece? Curator: The choice of mixed media is crucial. Acrylics allow for those saturated, almost artificial hues, echoing the visual language of advertising and consumer culture. Is this boot, this stage for a game, discarded? Reclaimed? Look at the drips, the almost aggressive application. There’s a definite sense of immediacy. Editor: So, it's about how the artwork was made, as well as what it's depicting? It feels quite raw. Curator: Exactly! The *process* is foregrounded. It subverts the traditional hierarchy of art where skill and refined technique were prized. This feels… democratized. Accessible. Like something that could spring up on a city wall. Notice, too, the suggestion of a figure hunched over. Editor: I do see the figure. It's very roughly drawn, almost obscured. Is it relevant? Curator: Think about labor, production. Who are the people who handle our waste? What’s elevated, and what is ignored in our commodity-driven world? This boot—refuse, essentially—has been re-worked, repurposed. It challenges our perception. What does that suggest about value? About *making*? Editor: I see what you mean, it's almost challenging us to find beauty, and commentary, in the discarded, the 'low' material. Curator: Precisely. And perhaps to question our own roles within the cycles of production and consumption. Editor: Well, I certainly have a different perspective on those bold colours and loose brushstrokes now. Thank you. Curator: My pleasure. Art often operates as a social mirror reflecting—and distorting—our own realities.