Art versus Concept

[Pen]

There are decks with stunning art - art that simply bowls you over. You buy the deck, read the book but... the theme/concept is lacking, either it's too flimsy, too stretched, too complicated, too obscure. How much time and trouble do you take to get into the artist and/or creator's intention in order to read successfully with the deck? Or do you simply ignore the concept/system and read with it your own or another, perhaps traditional way?

Or... The concept is brilliant - a new take on tarot yet one so apt and fitting you can't wait to make it your own. Yet the art is either too slick, garish, ill-conceived and at odds with the theme, or else it's simply inept.

Do you buy the deck and hope you'll learn to love it, or give it a miss and wonder how things might have been if the art and concept had been a perfect (or almost perfect) partnership?

How important is it that the two come together?

For me, a vital concern - I'd value really your opinions.

Pen

 

[Rosanne]

.... and wonder how things might have been if the art and concept had been a perfect (or almost perfect) partnership?

How important is it that the two come together?

For myself, I would prefer the concept to work and the art a little less perfect- than perfect art and the concept an ill-fit.

If it is wonderful art but not really Tarot in concept- then I could read with any of my art books. I can't. The closer the two come together- the Joy is wonderful. It is rare- but sometimes...just sometimes, someone picks up a Pen and magic happens.

~Rosanne

 

[Pen]

It is rare- but sometimes...just sometimes, someone picks up a Pen and magic happens.

~Rosanne

Rosanne, thank you! - you've made my day lovely...

Pen

 

[The crowned one]

Art is art. It is 95% subjective and 5% objective.... must be seen separate from tarot or tarot becomes art and by definition is no longer tarot, but only art.

Just my view.

 

[Eco74]

I love the art, the symbology and getting a first hand glimpse of someones perspective when it's different than my own. Given time and study (of either using the cards or just the art) I feel it expands my understanding.

For readings though, I find that the simpler the art, the clearer the message.
Mainly because I love the details.

In art, I can spend hours enjoying a piece.
In tarot, I can revel in seeing small correlations, angles etc in the cards when I do a reading. And even the simplest of images can sometimes bring deep insigt - in part because I'm "forced" to look at the details and think of what they mean and don't run the risk of being distracted by "something shiny" along the way that I might with a more well adorned deck.

I probably just need some more practice and to get more used to the more artsy decks so I can focus on the bits that pop for the reading rather than have my eyes dart all over the place, so the brief answer would be;
- I would have to spend time with the deck before I could read with it, if it was too artsy and not clear enough for my 'reading mind'.

 

[GryffinSong]

If I don't care for the art, I can't use the deck. Perhaps because I'm an artist myself, but bad art simply distracts me too much.

And, yes, there are gorgeous decks out there that seem to have no substance, or I don't connect with them for whatever reason.

I want a deck that has both. I want it to be readable and attractive to me. If its just beautiful, I put it away. If I don't like the artwork I inevitably end up getting rid of it.

 

[nisaba]

The ideal deck has overwhelmingly enchanting art and a killer concept. Few id any decks are ideal.

A great deck has a killer concept and competent-to-excellent art.

A good deck has okay or flawed art and a great concept, or a fair concept or even a derivative concept (from say the GD decks) and pleasing art.

A deck for the collection has stunning art and a concept that is weak.

These are my rankings, are subject to immediate overhaul, and I can't objectively assess the degree of either quality, anyway. No one can. No one has to agree with me.

 

[Le Fanu]

There has to be a firm concept. I seriously believe this. But it has to be a concept I can identify with. Or it has to be something - like the Art of Klimt - that I can identify effortlessly with due to having loved it in its original form (and having identified with it for years)...

When I think concept, I think Quantum. I think this is the deck which has the tightest most convincing concept of recent years. I love the art (though those who have difficulty with photography on cards may find the art harder to get readings from), but as a conceptual deck I find it utterly, fabulously watertight. I can totally get into that concept despite knowing nothing about Quantum Science. But it is so engaging & poetic that I identify effortlessly with it.

There are some decks which have a concept, though, which I really have to bend my mind to try and like and I never learn coz I really should just give up. Once you start having to bend your mind to try and "get" it, it's hardly going to offer spontaneously readings. Oh but I like the art!

To be honest though, I genuinely think that most decks opt for "nice to look at" rather than what I call watertight concept. Plus - like cell phones - do most people not read the instruction manual/companion book anyway?

I suspect most people would go for artwork though. However, I have long felt that the feeling we should go for decks with art which "resonates" with us might actually be the wrong approach and - as regards reading - the art we find prettiest might not be the decks we read best with long term.

 

[BodhiSeed]

When I first started coming to the AT forum and saw the multitude of decks available, I started collecting. Mostly, if I thought the art was beautiful, I bought the deck. But soon I realized some of the most beautiful decks did not have a firm tarot foundation (of any type) behind them, and I found them very difficult to read with. I gave away many decks soon thereafter. I still would probably not buy a deck that didn't appeal to me visually, but now I try to see a few cards to make my final decision on whether the concept is solid enough for me to read with them.

 

[Anna]

The art is irrelevant.

The concept MUST be based upon a sound knowledge of Tarot backed up by many years of serious study and understanding of what Tarot is. It must be true to Tarot and have something relevant and new to say, or teach, about Tarot.

The only deck that has done this in modern times, to my mind, is the Thoth.