You are a marvel my dear - Lauren Keeley

The work was created for the exhibition Portrait (for a Screenplay) of Beth Harmon, a project by Tamsin Clark and Sean Edwards and interprets the story of Beth Harmon, a gifted but also conflicted young chess player, portrayed in Walter Tevis’ 1983 novel The Queen’s Gambit. Beth is shown mid-match contemplating a game against her opponent, surrounded by an audience of equally apprehensive onlookers. Beth’s gift for chess when channeled positively is visual and free, almost abstract, blocking out the surrounding situation to focus on the patterns and intricacies of the game. Rendering the figures in the scene down to arrangements of shape, line and colour, and alternating the composition between dark and light space, much like a chess board, the work reflects Beth’s ability to create space and focus her abilities within the extremely challenging and male-dominated world of professional chess.