when chessboards reveal eternity...

"the checkers traveling in a sequence of their white and black diagonals going both to the right and to the left, the contrast of the vertical and horizontal, both are similar in their alternating rhythms in light and darkness. this physical ordering reflects the cycle of man's destiny; the vastness of my former fears of darkness were resolved as i read first the dark square, meaning: first night. i read second a light square, meaning: then day. the seasons i read, the years i saw appearing as images, the living followed the dying in my checkerboard existence; and since every black is followed by a white, i found my place in eternity."

alfred jensen, 1960 (image: a 1963 postcard announcing jensen's exhibition in madison n.j.)