A Beautiful Game for Naughty Children

One odd little project that I've been working on off and on for the past couple of months is the item shown above, a board game based on some of the works of Hieronymus Bosch. Not because I decided that the world needed such a thing, but as a demonstration piece for my classes. It's an option for the final project in some of my classes, designing a board game that makes use of the artwork of a particular artist, with the theme of the game relating to the work in some way. I generally show my students examples of completed projects when giving any assignment, so they get a better sense of what I'm looking for, but the last time I had any students do this one I wasn't able to take any photos. I decided that the best way to encourage more students to try the game option would be to go ahead and make an example. I considered a few possible artists and went with Bosch, obscure enough that I wouldn't expect any of students to choose him, but with plenty of content to work with. Because of the moralistic messages common to just about all his work, I decided to build my game, Heaven and Hell, around that idea. The game imagery is taken from two similar Bosch triptychs, The Last Judgment and The Garden of Earthly Delights. The game starts in the lower left corner (Eden as depicted by Bosch) and players follow a winding path around the board (past some familiar Bosch characters) that eventually leads to Heaven. Landing on certain spaces requires a player to take an alternate path. If players can't return to the original path, they end up tortured by demons in Hell. I was able to devote a week to it last fall, at which point it was still unfinished, but far enough along to demonstrate the concept to my students. Unfortunately, no one chose the game option for the project. In recent weeks when I've mentioned working on some back coloring projects in the Studio, this is one of the things I've been referring to. I put a few last washes of color on it today and I'm going to declare it done. It's far from perfect, but good enough to serve its purpose.

I showed the piece in progress at the December critique in the Studio, as I was between woodcuts and I wanted to show I had been busy with something. I was surprised at how well it was received. We ended up in a discussion about whether it should be taken seriously as an artwork. Pretty much everyone thought so, except for me. Not because of the game board format, but because it was created solely as an educational tool and a design exercise. I do see it as an attractive object, and it would fit fine on the walls of many galleries. What probably bothers me most is that almost everything in the image is closely copied from another artist. Maybe it's clever, but it's not particularly original. My favorite artists all have in common a unique vision that they found a way to realize it in their art, whether it was within the parameters of a specific commission or creating something for themselves. Artists will always be influenced by the art of others, but in my opinion, the work has to transcend those influences to become true art.