Portrait de joueurs d'echecs / Portrait of Chess Players
by Marcel Duchamp, 1911 | Oil on canvas | Philadelphia Museum of Art
Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.
Mark 10:15
‘Portrait of Chess Players’ shows several figures, painted in earthy hues, facing the centre of the canvas, their arms merged on the lower portion. The chess pieces float in the undetermined space, and the whole painting may be considered as the board. The artist, Marcel Duchamp, was himself a competitive, award-winning player, and he incorporated the game into his art throughout his career. In doing so, he combined the structured rules of chess with an abstracted, highly imaginative artistic style. Duchamp certainly had an individual, playful, and open mind.
If we, ourselves, wish to expand our minds and consider all, the Logos if you will, then we too perhaps need to combine imagination with structure. Imagination is something that often fades as we grow. Young children are full of imagination, one only has to observe them at play. But slowly (and unfortunately) the structures of life seem to limit this. In the modern world especially, we are bombarded with information. As non-conformists we should perhaps, as well as not conforming to set religious beliefs, attempt to free our minds of any external secular influences. This is not easy. In the UK, the main political parties, the mainstream media, the BBC, the National Curriculum, universities, and (increasingly) social media, all combine to promote a ‘world view’ within which we become so embroiled it is sometimes hard to see beyond. The problem is, when we sit and think about things, many of us do not agree with this view.
A lot has been said recently on the subject of free-speech, and rightly so, for free-speech should remain at the heart of our society. But perhaps we should be doing more to promote free thought? Imagination and structure. Free thought built upon a solid foundation. And, as Christians, we already have a solid foundation in the Bible.
So, instead of bowing to secular influences, I cannot help but believe things would be better if we, as we are urged through Christ, looked to Scripture for our guidance. For, in Scripture, we already have a manifesto for life.
So, as we grow older and our knowledge of life increases, let us try to nurture our imagination instead of allowing it to wane. Let us keep the way of Christ firmly in our sights as we aim for the light and the truth.
Yet, life is not easy, it certainly has its ups and downs. Sometimes we lose our way. Comparing our search for this worldly truth to a delicate sphere –
The earth is a world, the world is a ball
A ball in a game with no rules at all
And just as I wonder at the beauty of it all
You go and drop it and it breaks and falls
(The Game, Echo and the Bunnymen)
But when things break, and we seemingly fail, let us remain steadfast, let us open our minds to imagination, the playful imagination of a child. Above all, let us open our hearts to the Spirit, and, in doing so, may we forever continue in God’s name.
No surrender!
The Logos is a child at play, moving pieces in a game; kingship belongs to the child.
(Heraclitus, Fragment DK B 52)
Gwyn Davies