CHECKMATE
Signed by Sting

The Story of Checkmate

This is an enchanting story of “good wins over evil”. The Suchiuistic scene takes place on the valley floor of Victoria Falls, Africa. The chessboard was once an awesome raging river, but because of the greedy games people play, without concern for the environment, the river has now been converted into a playground which is intended, by its builders, to display the ultimate show of decadents.

The blue King and Queen represent nature, pure as the snow. They are good. The King, in the likeness of the musical superstar Sting, intentionally resembles several heroes with a superman stance, Batman cape, Robin Hood boos, and even Roy Roger’s gloves. The powerful couple has just taken full control of the game and has the bad King in Checkmate. You will also notice that the good King is too large for the game board square he is standing on, meaning that between man and nature there is no contest, goodwill ultimately wins over evil.

The darker players are all greedy corporations and vicious corporate leaders of the world. The castle tower is the Rook of medieval times and represents earlier forms of ruthless human greed. If you look carefully you will see the knight (the horse’s head), in the foreground. It is built of today’s technology, computer controls appear in its rusting damaged base. In its defeat, it has broken and fallen over. The evil-looking dark King is constructed of, turn of the century, early industrial technology. His bottom half is in the form of a sawdust burner from a high volume, forest devouring, lumber yard. He wears many symbols of evil; saw-blades as his crown, black rhino horns on his shoulders, Satan’s trident on his back, six souls (the unredeemed Scrooges of the world) hang on his person for on excruciating eternity. Ronald Suchiu the painting’s creator was born at 3:33 am. Note on the evil king the equation 333 x 2. This equals 666, which is the representational number for the Devil himself.

There is a sleeping dragon on the monolith of rock in the background; Ronald uses it to represent all the endangered and extinct animal species of the world. It has been a little known fact that Ronald Suchiu is infatuated with dragons. His ancestors, being from mystical Transylvania, spoke of much ancient folklore leaving him inbred with incredible tales and magical inner visions.

The good players in Checkmate have won, the game is complete, and nature is already beginning to take back what belongs to it. The game board is starting to crack and crumble in the foreground and it is falling back into the river. New growth and vines are just starting to grow over the evil knight as the castle tower decays.

Ronald’s dear friend Dr. David Suzuki once told him “If all of the men left the face of the earth, nature would flourish. We need nature it does not need us”. Checkmate is hand-signed by Sting and the artist. Suchiu’s work goes into detail that is so fine that most people who see his art for the first time are amazed. Some of the portraits that he has put into his paintings are as small as your baby fingernail!

Frequently Asked Questions

What are limited edition prints?

Unlike an open edition print series that can be endlessly reproduced, in a limited edition print series, the artist restricts the total number of prints to be produced so it will maintain its collectability throughout the test of time, therefore increasing its monetary value. A limited edition print series is broken down again into three categories: press proofs, artist proofs and signed and numbered.

What types of limited edition prints are there?

Press Proofs

When an artist does a limited edition print series of an original painting, the first few prints that come off the press are called press or printer proofs. The first few samples that are printed off are put to the side as press proofs, having been ‘proofed’ by the person running the press prior to the artist’s arrival. Usually, press proofs only make up about 1% of the entire print run. 

Artist Proofs

During a print run, the artist and the person running the press will intermittently pull samples and set them aside for proofing. Traditionally, press proofs would be proofed by the press operator and artist proofs would be proofed by the artist. At Suchiu Art, artist proofs make up only about 10% of a given limited edition print series.

Signed & Numbered

The majority of a limited edition print run is designated to a series called signed and numbered. The signed and numbered limited edition print series contains the largest quantity of reproductions for that specific painting. Nonetheless, the total quantity of prints produced in a given signed and numbered limited edition print series will still be restricted in comparison to demand to maintain a sense of urgency for collectors and retain the print series overall value. 

Do you offer shipping?

Yes! Whether you are ordering a limited edition print unframed or with a frame, we can ship your order to you anywhere across North America and beyond. Each order is handled with the utmost care and packaged with protection to ensure it is received by you in the same condition that it left our gallery.