ColumnThe Tarot Card Series, reinterpreted by quintessential New York artist, Francesco Clemente.

The 1980s, were an especially big time for art in New York. Though perhaps not as well known as Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, their contemporary, Francesco Clemente gained fame and recognition as a master of multiple mediums within painting. Known for portraiture, his beautiful renderings – replete with huge eyes, full lips and a most direct gaze – are often captivating.

Clemente, who was born in Naples, Italy, works across cultures as he divides living and working between New York and Varanasi, India. Despite his intimate knowledge of spiritual India, Clemente has steered clear of an interest in the occult until now. The Tarot Card Series of 78 watercolor portraits, features the the 500 year-old system of tarot, and stars a very New York line up of Clemente’s friends: artists, writers, and actors among them.

The artist explains: “In a way, it is my portrait of the city, the aura of the city, the style, and the people.”

“I was intimidated by the tarot at first. I was afraid it would be too rigid, but, actually, it’s not. It is full of flexible reality. In fact, I found that reading the cards is very close to painting, because it requires a very specific kind of attention, where you are completely there and at the same time completely not there.”

Often Clemente paints self-portraits, and has painted himself into the series. “I am the Fool because the Fool is zero, the first card in the deck, and he is traveling,” he explained.  “The Fool is all potential.”

Clemente paints fellow painter Brice Marden as the Hanged Man. In tarot, this card is based on the Norse god Odin who hung from the World Tree for nine days to gain knowledge of the runes.

Writer Salman Rushdie is the King of Swords; sculptor Kiki Smith, the Queen of Disks. Social commentator, Fran Lebowitz, gets painted as Justice.

Another artist, Jasper Johns is the Pope. “I’ve always thought of Jasper as a poet, someone who connects this world to the next one.”

Which seems to be exactly what Clemente has consistently done with his body of work, and he has not stopped with the Tarot.

See details of pieces from the series with a soundtrack by Ravi Shankar, in the video below.

Inspired by a post at book of joe who was inspired by Calvin Tomkins at the New Yorker.

Eco, trends, art, creativity and how they tumble through social media to shape culture fascinate EcoSalon columnist Dominique Pacheco. Her trends blog, mixingreality, speaks to these topics daily, and here at EcoSalon, she takes a weekly look at the intersection of eco and art. We call it heARTbeat.

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