The Tarot Reading was created spontaneously, as all my work is. The Tarot Cards were chosen randomly. Some of the characters are new and others are from earlier work. My talented friend Peetie Van Etten takes my images and interprets them as she sees it. I love it as she always sees more than I do. It’s art as therapy. Enjoy.
You are really headed out in a new direction. This piece is very lively, happy, so much yellow, lots going on. It reminds me of paintings by Breughel, where you want to just sit down and look and look and find out what everyone is doing. It also has a strong ‘happy factor,’ like Calder’s circus, playful and fun, especially with all the lines/wires in the center of the piece.
Here there are several people to focus on. There is a lot to look at and to digest. These characters are straight forward, varied and some are quite confident. They are all very individualized and filled with personality.
The man in the striped, feminized (bow) hat feels like the ring master. He is standing on a house. He looks like he is in control, he’s old school, smoking a cigar. He looks a little smug. In front of the house is a table with a stack of tarot cards on it. Maybe he is the distributor of the tarot cards? Two of the cards have been separated out of the deck-The Empress-symbolizing femininity, nature, nurturing and The Hierophant-tradition and convention, it can also represent a marriage in an arranged setup. These two cards set the tone of the emotional themes in this work.
The man with the big, black hat in the lower right is prominent and stands out. He seems a bit cartoonish (in a good, effective way) and he is not fleshed out like all of the other characters. He is made of a different cloth, his sensibility isn’t as advanced, his body isn’t distinct like everyone else’s. His shadow appears almost in the center of the piece, just as an outline and flipped to face it’s double down below, so he is represented twice. He doesn’t seem confident, happy or content. His mouth is a straight, red smudge. There is a thin, erratic, blood red line on the front of him and going over his left shoulder. His face is a pasty white. He is looking directly at the child, but not really connecting with him. There is a ladder near his shoulder, leaning on him. He needs to go somewhere; he needs to rise up. He is the only character without a tarot card.
Perhaps I am reading too much into this, but you have a male child on a chair, holding The Moon tarot card, representing illusion, fear and anxiety. He is holding on to a female image who looks confused and is showing us The Fool tarot card- innocence and beginnings. The child isn’t looking at the woman. He is staring at the large male, mentioned above, who seems to not know, or like, what is happening.
Meanwhile, there is the tallest image, a woman, on the far left, who is balancing on a zebra, an animal that can run really fast and would not be easy to balance on. She is the one overseeing the piece and she is looking directly at us. She has the best and the highest vantage point. She seems calm and contained and has under her arm the tarot card of the Ten Cups upright, representing happiness and domestic harmony. At her feet is the card Temperance-learning to bring balance, patience and moderation into your life, taking the middle road, avoiding extremes and maintaining calm. That would be you. I think you are doing better at dealing with your situation than you think you are.
I love the openness of this piece and how you have once again incorporated a map in the background. Canada and Mexico, plus other bits and pieces of words, remind me of a puzzle. Then there are the arrows. The Ring Master is holding one of them that is pointing upwards, things are going to get better. The other arrow points to the tall woman as it hovers over the man, woman and child below. The arrow indicates her importance in the situation of the woman, child and man in the lower right.
There are two tarot cards floating up out of the top edge of the piece, almost as if they have been dropped by the red half figure above them, or they are inflated and are rising on their own. They are the Two of Pentacles- unlimited problems can be handled if time and energy is managed well and the Three of Cups-hinting at celebration, friendship, creativity. You have also included twice, 3 playing cards, the three, four and the five of hearts. Hearts represent the season of spring. It’s also meant to be a symbol of the “childhood” stage of life and or the struggle to achieve inner joy. The numbers: Three = Faith, Four = Satisfaction and Five = Change.
Lastly, there is the figure with the tall, black satin hat to the right of the center of the piece. I went to my print, Mapping the Unconscious by KD, and there you have labeled this person as representing independence and self-sufficiency. Here we find this figure holding, with both hands, The Magician card-symbolic of power, potential and the unification of the physical and spiritual worlds. This sounds like you as well.
All and all, I think this is a spectacular piece, so evocative of your current family situation and so hopeful for the future of it.
Big Hug,
from my amazing friend Peetie Van Etten
😘
