Paul Ygartua
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PAUL YGARTUA · 73 ARTWORKS

Chess Paintings

For Paul Ygartua, chess is a way to imagine the choices and strategies of life. In his chess paintings, kings, queens, bishops and pawns become characters, each with a role and personality within the composition.

The collection explores the game through different styles, including Cubism and reverse painting. These works use the chessboard as a setting for invention, turning the contest between pieces into a wider human story.

For me, the game of chess is like the game of life. The challenge is designing and then acting out a strategy—as in life, you must constantly evaluate and change your playing strategy.

I put my imagination into each character: the king, the queen, the bishop, the pawns, the castle. Each portrays a different angle, a different personality.

— Paul Ygartua

The story of White Wins

In the summer of 2009, while Ygartua was in Spain, New York playwright Richard Hart McMahon contacted him about interpreting his play White Wins as a painting. McMahon had bought Ygartua’s work in Quebec City during the 1990s and wanted a visual expression of the play’s ideas, reverse-painted on Plexiglas.

Paul remembers Joanne beginning the 75-page play on the Channel Tunnel journey from Paris to London. They visited family in Liverpool, where Anton and Lotta came from London and Tala, Mathieu and Willow flew in from Paris, then spent time in Soho before returning to Vancouver. Joanne continued reading on the journey and finished the play on arrival. Paul became so involved with its characters that he felt they were his associates.

Back in Vancouver, he had two weeks to work on White Wins and paintings for upcoming shows before travelling to Toronto and New York. The six-by-four-foot Plexiglas painting was shipped to New York, where McMahon and his wife arrived during the first hour of the show. Ygartua recalls their delight in his interpretation and his own satisfaction in bringing such an intriguing play into visual form.

Rows of chess-like figures on a pale chequered boardCheckmateCluster of crowned figures on a golden chessboardCheckmateArtist standing beside a large chess-themed paintingPaul Ygartua presenting Neo Cubism Art StyleColourful figures and pieces above a red and yellow boardWhere is the QueenChess pieces receding into a dark textured settingBattle RoyalChess-like figures outlined in gold and greenChessboardQueen-like figure and horse head on a blue boardQueen with HorseCrowned figure amid warm geometric formsQueen's Hold - Neo Cubism ArtCity-like forms above a dark blue chequered boardCity MatchHorse head and figures on a multicoloured boardHorse on the LooseWhite chess pieces receding across a pale boardThe GatheringTall chess-like forms in red and yellow on blackThe EndTwo opposing figures in red, yellow and blackThe Chess WarStylised figures beside a pale chequered floorThe Lady WinsIndustrial-looking shapes around a red chequered boardThe Industrial WayGolden queen-like figure beside chess piecesThe GoddessDense figures and board shapes in red and greenWhite WinsTwo black and white chess composition sketchesChess - SketchCurving chess forms on a yellow chequered boardThe BeginningStylised figures within arches above a chessboardDecisionsDense figures above a yellow and black boardU-TurnClose-up knight horse head beside geometric figuresUp-CloseQueen and knight beside a receding chessboardQueen and HorseChess pieces beneath pale arches and blue skyCheckmate on the RivieraRow of crowned figures above a black and white boardSoldiers in LineColourful pieces and faces on a receding chessboardOn the BoardChess pieces and figures in blue and whiteBlue KnightQueen and knight on a red and white boardRepeatPale chess forms with a prominent horse headBlue HorseDense chess figures in orange, blue and violetVolatileFigures and pawns on a warm chequered floorBishop and QueenLarge white chess pieces in a perspective interiorSophisticationGolden chess pieces amid dark green geometric marksWinningPale chess figures with red and black accentsGirl's GameLarge colourful chess pieces beneath bright archesThe Wise QueenDense colourful chess shapes above golden board marksDestinyRounded chess figures above a black and white boardQueen's FiestaGolden chess-like figures with dark linear outlinesThe Race to the EndPale chess pieces beside dark blue formsPerfect PositiveOutlined chess figures on blue, yellow and pinkFuture Concepts