Los extraños jugadores 1942

Curator: Alright, let’s turn our attention to “Los extraños jugadores” – The Strange Players. Angel Planells created this intriguing oil painting in 1942. Editor: Immediately, I'm struck by its theatricality, almost like a stage set for some absurd, existential drama. The unsettling imagery evokes a feeling of dreamlike unease. Curator: Absolutely, and Planells masterfully utilizes surrealist techniques. The juxtaposition of the skeletal figure in a suit with the figure whose head is a strange vessel playing chess conjures profound questions. What commentary might Planells be making about life, death, and perhaps the games we play in between? Editor: The chessboard itself becomes a potent symbol. Its fractured perspective adds to the disorientation, making the stakes feel impossibly high, while the figures possess a peculiar elegance despite their bizarre forms. The rigid geometry against the organic shapes intensifies the feeling of displacement. And is that a loaf of bread perched on the building behind them? Curator: Precisely! Planells enjoyed disrupting reality. You see common, mundane objects rendered extraordinary, charged with symbolic meaning. That single loaf could represent sustenance in a desolate world, or even perhaps a Eucharistic element, amidst the decaying landscape. Also notice the arid, sparse background— a stark stage for their absurd game. Editor: I'm also curious about the tentacle-like appendage coiling above the skeleton's head. The materiality is unsettling— flesh that is somehow also bone-like. Planells makes sure to paint the sky in complementary warm colors as well. The chess game is the ultimate play on memento mori. Curator: I agree. There’s an undercurrent of morbid humor woven throughout the entire composition, compelling viewers to engage with its bizarre narrative on their own terms. Editor: A deeply haunting and whimsical reflection of mortality, Planells leaves us contemplating not just the strangeness of the game, but the strangeness of life itself. Curator: I leave with that same feeling: The unsettling realization that every move matters in this elaborate theatre that Planells created.