Lorenzo Quinn’s extraordinary “Chess Set Table” is a beautiful reflection of Quinn’s fondness of the game and his personal history of playing chess with his father, actor Anthony Quinn.
Quinn explains the significance of the game:
“Chess Set. I love the chess game; it’s as illuminating as it is frustrating. It can make you believe that you are superior in the way that most affects others – smarter. By the same token, when you lose to a stronger adversary, the loss not only affects your mood, it touches your deepest emotions and makes you feel empty and dumb.
Chess is the fairest game I know. It puts everything and everyone in their place. I used to spend hours on end playing chess with my father, and slowly through the years I started getting better, and eventually I started to win. At that point I noticed how he immediately took it personally and saw himself getting old and frail, because he was not able to beat his son anymore.
We still cherished those moments together by the pool in Rome, overlooking the Hudson River in Manhattan or in the Libyan desert during the breaks from his role in Lion of the Desert. Modern times have left the chess game unchanged and the challenge of it. For me, it is a game win which the importance of time is relative. I wish we could learn how to live our lives in the same way as we play chess.”
