Outrageous Fortune: Artists Remake the Tarot
An exhibition showcasing contemporary artists’ interpretations of the classic Tarot de Marseille deck of cards. Although used as playing cards throughout Europe since the 15th century, in the English-speaking world the tarot is generally associated with divination and fortune telling. A rich source of imagery, it includes such archetypes as The Fool, The Magician, The High Priestess, The Lovers, The Wheel of Fortune, The Hanged Man and Death.
For this project, seventy-eight artists, whose work encompasses a variety of formal, conceptual, expressionist, literary or design-based approaches, have been asked to create a card for a contemporary tarot pack. Each artist has been drawn a card randomly, and invited to reinterpret it in their own way while working to a prescribed size and format. Among the contributions are works by Mike Nelson, Adam Chodzko, Cerith Wyn Evans, Lindsay Seers and Susan Hiller.
A Hayward Touring/Focal Point Gallery exhibition, curated by Andrew Hunt.