Illusion of Diversity 2013

Curator: Michael Cheval's acrylic painting, "Illusion of Diversity," completed in 2013, is quite an engaging piece. My first impression: a touch unsettling. The crisp light and improbable architectural space have an unreal, theatrical quality. Editor: Definitely. There’s an artificiality here—everything is so precisely rendered. I am curious about the fabrication; notice the artist's application of thin glazes, producing a nearly flawless surface that almost erases any trace of his hand. The chess pieces too seem machine-made. Curator: And consider the figures, seemingly drawn from disparate mythologies. The serving woman in what appears to be folk attire, the lady in the golden gown, and then this figure in a jester's costume locked in a silent game of chess…it is filled with archetypes. Do these familiar characters point towards timeless truths about social roles? Editor: I think it underscores a more cynical point about manufactured roles. Look closely: the railway carrying chess pieces! Aren't we seeing labor and leisure repackaged as a "diverse" landscape? Even the title, "Illusion of Diversity," gestures to a constructed image, carefully made through production, material choice, and staging. Curator: The clock face on the woman's hat— that certainly pulls focus. Clocks signify not just time but destiny, a measure we seemingly control yet which governs us. I wonder if Cheval suggests we are all pieces within a larger, predetermined game. Editor: And a market driven one. See how that endless array of matching architectural arches, receding into the distance, could reference not just architectural history but, moreover, contemporary forms of industrial repetition. I can't ignore how the painting flirts with classical composition while employing industrial methods for its sleek surfaces. Curator: Perhaps it’s about perception. This painting pulls us in, encouraging us to question the stories we tell ourselves and what truly matters. The chessboard could even be a symbolic microcosm of the broader illusion itself. Editor: Absolutely. It all seems calculated. Reflecting on "Illusion of Diversity," I see Cheval engaging with complex concerns about class, manufacturing, and social mobility through the accessible form of the symbolic tableau.