Since his first paintings and the installation Das Schachspiel referring to the game of chess in 2008, chess has frequently appeared in Hildebrandt’s work, usually through the direct use of chessboards or chess pieces—particularly pawns.

Hildebrandt’s series of bronze pawns sculptures are large-scale sandcasted bronze sculptures in which chess pieces are enlarged exponentially, becoming independent sculptures with abstract geometrical volumes.

The artist started the series in 2020 and has since then presented these works in international institutions, such as Museo de Arte de Zapopan (Mexico, 2023); Bundeskunsthalle (Bonn, Germany, 2023); Museum der Moderne (Salzug, Austria, 2023); Kunsthalle Praha (Prague, Czech Republic, 2022) and Mies van der Rohe Haus (Berlin, Germany, 2021).