Pressure Chess
Category: Houston Reframed
Address
909 Fannin St
Houston, TX 77010
Details
Artist: Colby Deal
Two men face off over a chessboard in an overgrown field, ornate chairs planted in the grass like thrones. Deal uses chess as a metaphor for the constant, strategic navigation required of Black men moving through the world. Every move deliberate. Every obstacle anticipated.
About the Artist
Colby Deal is a Houston-based photographic artist whose work explores family, community, and individuality through street photography and portraiture. He earned his BFA from the University of Houston and draws on early influences from family photography and analog processes, with a focus on capturing the immediacy of “the now.” His work balances psychological depth with formal experimentation, including recent image manipulation.
Deal’s monograph Beautiful, Still. (MACK Books) and inclusion in the Bush Intercontinental Airport collection highlight his impact in both publishing and public space. His work has been featured in Vogue, The Guardian, Hyperallergic, and The Washington Post, and reflects an ongoing commitment to storytelling and cultural preservation.
