Lyndon barrois, sr.

Inspired by daily breaking news and one of a series of ""Pickett's Charge"" paintings by Mort KUnstler, depicting the epic Civil War battle of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863. An event also inspired by Mark Bradford's massive groundbreaking installation at the Hirschhorn Museum in Washington, DC.

A literal Interactive chess set where my miniatures are the pieces encased in test tubes. Patrons will be encouraged to actually put on gloves and play. The challenge is to pick a side - an army - and take on the personas of the powerful virus and incompetent politics (red side) or the heroic and vulnerable first responders and victims (blue side). It forces half the players, those who choose the red side representing the power hungry Trump administration and it's cohorts, to either give in to their own morality by losing, or their egos and callousness by winning. Choosers of the blue side, have to play their best game to win - period! Therefore my Covid Chess Set is a literal representation of this pandemic, it's effect on our divisive racial and economic politics, and a test of our moral compasses - much like the Civil War itself.

As a member of the AMPAS (Oscars) Visual Effects Branch, Lyndon Barrois' thirty-plus year career in art and animation is marked by a practice in many corners of the field. His early stopmotion work won him accolades while still a master's student at the California Institute of the Arts, for his unique and innovative procedure of using chewing gum wrappers as his medium of choice to create his ""sportraits"" of historic athletic figures and events. He continues that technique today, with the added component of shooting and editing his films entirely on iPhones.

In 1990, after officials from the Ripley's Believe It Or Not! Museums saw an NBC Today Show segment highlighting Barrois' wondrous work, Ripley's curators purchased 15 original sculptures, mostly from his Super Bowl series, and has displayed his sportraits around the world ever since.

In later years, he would direct an episode of The PJs, help shape the spectacular, ground-breaking CGI visual effects of The Matrix Trilogy, direct sequences in the Oscar-winning Happy Feet, and supervise the nuanced dinosaur performances in the Tree of Life, garnering more film credits along the way. Barrois directed a massive team of animators for Alvin and the Chipmunks, vaulting the franchise into a billion dollar phenomenon. He's also been recognized by the Visual Effects Society Awards with a nomination for his work on The Thing, as well as a captain and co-author in the VES industry guide book. He's also worked extensively in the field of Virtual Reality, having co-founded Blackthorn Media and exhibiting titles at Sundance and Tribeca international film festivals.

In 2018 Barrois exhibited FutBallet, a miniature sculpture and animation installation at the Perez Art Museum Miami in The World's Game: Futbol and Contemporary Art, an animated profile on author TaNehisi Coates for topic.com (@topicstories) which was shortlisted for a 2019 Emmy award, and Prizefighter, an animated sportrait recreating three pivotal days in the life of Jack Johnson, the first African American World Heavyweight champion, debuted on the film festival circuit. He followed that in 2019 with his Black Jockeys Praxinoscope at Quotidian Gallery in downtown Los Angeles, an animated music video for the young blues phenom Kingfish, which premiered on RollingStone.com, inclusion in Little Nemo's Progress: Animation and Contemporary Art at the Oklahoma State Museum of Art, and recently exhibited For... Freedom, an animated short film commissioned by ForFreedoms.org that debuted at the MOCA Geffen Contemporary Museum in Los Angeles.

A native New Orleanian and graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana, Barrois' career has spanned the globe. In addition to his deep background as an artist, animator, director, educator, and collector, Barrois has served on boards and formed donor affiliations with the Santa Monica Museum of Art (now ICALA), the William H. Johnson Foundation, YA/YA, Inc., CAAM, LACMA, MOCA Los Angeles, LA Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), LAXART, Studio Museum Harlem, The Mistake Room, etc. He also serves as a Commissioner for The National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, a member on the Inclusion Task Force for the new Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Museum, and as a new board member of the California Institute of the Arts, his alma mater, continuing his artistic endeavors in exciting new capacities.

Heroes:

1. Doctor (King)

2. Doctor (Queen)

3. Nurse (bishop)

4. Nurse (bishop)

5. Journalist (knight)

6. Cook (knight)

7. Firefighter (rook)

8. Governor Cuomo (rook)

9. Elderly woman (pawn)

10. Farm worker (pawn)

11. National guardian (pawn)

12. Prisoner (pawn)

13. Janitor (pawn)

14. Postal worker (pawn)

15. Homeless guy (pawn)

16. Children (pawn)

Villains:

1. King covid (Trump)

2. Queen covid (Pence)

3. Dr Birx (knight)

4. Press secretary (knight)

5. Governors (bishop)

6. FOX anchor (rook)

7. Judge (bishop)

8. Dr. Fauci (knight)

9. Gun toting protestor (pawn)

10. Lobbyist (pawn)

11. Evangelical Preacher (pawn)

12. Protestors (pawn)

13. Beach combers (pawn)

14. CEO (pawn)

15. Rebel flag bearer (pawn)

16. Surgeon general (pawn)