PAINTINGS > TAROT CARD PAINTINGS

The making of the Carolina series-
Time Lapse Video
2013

"These are giant Tarot cards made of oilpaint on assembled found paintings(life size). The Carolina series was based on a Tarot card reading Carolina gave me not long after we met. Tarot readings- like looking at fine art- can give the viewer a projectable space onto which to base their current and future life and inspiration. I spent the next years making portraits of her as these cards all refracted through the gaze of her fashion photographs. By the end of that time we had two children, as cards in the reading "the Sun" and "the Empress" may have suggested(our first son is named Sol for the Sun). I was also accepted to, and completed my Masters in Fine Art at Columbia University, as cards "the Hermit", "the Ace of Swords" and "the Princess of Swords" may have suggested. This period for my art and life was quite a transformative crossroads that Carolina and I were passing through together "the Tower", "Death", "the Moon" and "the Hanged Man(Eclipse)" all represented. I had two highly creative cards to draw on throughout, "the Magician" and "the Devil". The project culminated in three major events: one solo show called "the Lovers" at Lyons Wier Gallery in 2013, one solo show called "GAMES" at Fernando Luis Alvarez Gallery in 2015, and of-course Carolina and I's wedding in 2014."
-James Gortner