Board and Boxes: Mahogany

Brazilian artist Tunga (born 1952) works with a variety of different material from lead to gold, gunpowder to sulphuric acid, yet central to his aesthetic is a focus on female sexuality as well as allusions to ancient rituals of the past. In the mid 1980s he created works in real human hair, such as the performance piece Capillary Siamese Twins that featured an identical pair of 13-year old twins joined together by a floor length mass of tangled blonde hair. Other works from this period include his series Exogenous Axis, a collection of totem poles fashioned out of metal and wood that when looked at a distance reveal the contours of the female body in their exterior line. For his RS&A and Luhring Augustine chess commission Tunga returns to his interest in the corporeal body to create a set of bronze chessmen inspired by the artist’s own mouth. There are 32 teeth in the head and 32 chess pieces on a board. By transforming incisors, canines and molars into pawns, bishops and rooks respectively he has created a unique and ingenious take on the game.