Every year, the perennially inspirational archetypes of Tarot are imagined anew by countless visual artists. Now here’s New England’s Stone Riley, creator of Spirit Hill Tarot (2006, Spirit Hill Studio), who has devised a CD of striking Tarot paintings based on his "New Modern Art" theory.
Riley believes that contemporary art viewers have learned to absorb information from multiple sources simultaneously and his work–distinguished by intense color, imaginative shapes, and startling juxtapositions--invokes influences ranging from indigenous cultures to Salvador Dalí, from minimalism to Picasso. Some of the Spirit Hill images were created to correspond with specific Tarot cards; others pre-existed Riley’s project but--as he discovered--turned out to fit particular Tarot archetypes quite well.
Each image in this "gallery of life in its immense variety" comes with a few snippets of interpretation. Four of Earth is "The owner, and his power, and his love of power." Riley’s absolutely right-on message for the Queen of Water-–from his painting "Gorgon"–is "Fear this voice and despair, welcome it and learn." Both the Six of Water’s legend--"The Past Speaks"–-and the title of the painting from which it is drawn--"House of the Spirits"–-both strongly resonate with me; I’m astounded and grateful to know that someone perceives the Six of Cups exactly as I do.
The CD, which works like a Web site with hyperlinks, contains slides of all 78 cards, singly and in groups of four. These images can be viewed individually, in large or thumbnail size, or via an automated slide show. They can be printed out to create an actual deck. Riley’s disk also includes a few essays, some poetry, and a handful of links to resources on the Web.
Visit http://www.lulu.com/stoneriley or http://www.yessy.com/stoneriley.
by Eva Yaa Asantewaa, (c)2006
Originally posted on my Web site at http://mysite.verizon.net/magickaleva, where you'll find more reviews and resources of interest.
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