Minimalist decks?

Lain_82

Wow, this quickly turned into a "minimalist decks are worthless" kind of thread! As I said before, I think there is a definite place for them. The Linestrider (since it has been mentioned) has helped me a ton this month to work on my mental well being, and the same can be said for a number of other decks. For me, decks with cleaner lines and a more sparse design have eased me into tarot, they help when I want to get my brain to think outside of the box, and yeah, they've also shown me that perhaps I can also benefit from more esoteric decks, such as the Mary El and the Tabula Mundi (which I ordered last week).

Are they commercial strategies? Perhaps, but as long as there are people (like myself) who find wisdom and comfort in them, and who gain meaningful lessons from their imagery and message well then, we should be happy that boundaries are expanding and that more people feel drawn to express their view of tarot in a large number of ways.
 

Krystophe

Being a perennial skeptic and sometime curmudgeon, my first thought is that it's an attempt to cash in on tarot's resurgent popularity without having to develop a full arsenal of artistic and symbolic competencies.

What he said...
 

Nemia

Well, the word minimalism is not well-defined enough when used referring to tarot. Is it a deck with a minimum of traditional symbolism? Then it needs to be very subtle in order to evoke traditional symbolism without showing it, not an easy feast. Or is it minimalist in its visual language, presenting the traditional symbols in simple, stark images? That's not the same.

Minimalism can be paucity of concept and execution, but it can also mean that an artist has distilled the tarot into simple but perfect images. I wouldn't judge both the same way. Minimalism of laziness and minimalism of sublime wisdom - not the same.

Look at Mondriaan. The man worked for decades and left away one element after the other in his paintings until he was left with a minimum of elements: light (white), absence of light (black), three primary colours, lines and rectangles. Or Mark Rothko.

One minimalist deck I'd love to explore is the inkblot one, forgot its name. What could be simpler? But the images look evocative.

You can try to make quick money with tarot also by overloading cards with all kinds of symbols to make it look "meaningful" without a real idea behind it. Is maximalism better than minimalism?


No, I can't dismiss so easily the wish to leave away everything that's not strictly necessary. Especially in tarot. As readers, we come with a head full of knowledge, our history with a card.
 

gregory

Being a perennial skeptic and sometime curmudgeon, my first thought is that it's an attempt to cash in on tarot's resurgent popularity without having to develop a full arsenal of artistic and symbolic competencies.

Just another fad. ;)

What he said...
A word. No, a few. International Icon. Golden Thread. Construction Paper. Lars Holmsen. Nova.

Fad - no. Cashing in - occasionally - but I wouldn't' say usually. Nor would I assume the creators don't have their full arsenal.
 

banbha

Gregory, I think you might have taken my post out of context. I disagreed with the thought or the idea of minimalism being a fad; hence my little winkie. ;) I was being sarcastic about the idea of TdMs or playing cards being a fad too.
 

Nemia

And what's wrong with deck creators wanting to earn money? Do artists have to starve? Not in my book. If there is a market, let them sell their goods.
 

gregory

Gregory, I think you might have taken my post out of context. I disagreed with the thought or the idea of minimalism being a fad; hence my little winkie. ;) I was being sarcastic about the idea of TdMs or playing cards being a fad too.
Fairenough :D
 

Krystophe

Minimalism can be paucity of concept and execution, but it can also mean that an artist has distilled the tarot into simple but perfect images.

Certainly it can, and often does, mean this. But I believe that in reality this distilled perfection of imagery occurs much more rarely than the vast plethora of "mimimalist" tarot decks might seem to suggest.

Look at Mondriaan. The man worked for decades and left away one element after the other in his paintings until he was left with a minimum of elements: light (white), absence of light (black), three primary colours, lines and rectangles. Or Mark Rothko.

Most definitely a valid observation...but on the other hand, look at van Gogh, who worked hard and painstakingly to develop his drawing skills, which he knew to be lacking.. Or Joseph Cornell, who on more than one occasion lamented his inability to draw. His solution was to develop an entirely different medium.

Not intending to digress into a debate of art history here, only to suggest that there is more than one way to skin that proverbial cat. I'm not convinced that all those creators of "minimalist" art decks are working with the clarity of purpose of a Mondrian or a Rothko. I may be a bit of a cynic, at least on this subject, but to me it usually just smacks more of laziness/opportunism than of deliberation.

You can try to make quick money with tarot also by overloading cards with all kinds of symbols to make it look "meaningful" without a real idea behind it. Is maximalism better than minimalism?

No it's not. And I'm not advocating throwing everything but the kitchen sink into an image just because one can. I myself prefer more symbolism rather than less, as it gives me more "grist for the intuitive mill." Others preferences may be different, but equally valid.

I don't question anyone who prefers to read with "mimimalist" decks, but it's the creation of such decks that I question. One in a dozen (hundred? more? less?) may be the result of painstakingly applied talent, but let's face it...if one wishes to cash in on a trend by creating a tarot deck, minimalism is certainly an easier way to go about it than "maximalism."

Not to be mean-spirited towards any creator of a tarot deck; and certainly not towards anyone who reads with a style of deck that is other than what I myself prefer. Mostly I'm just observing that not all "mimimalist" decks are created equal.
 

Krystophe

Wow, this quickly turned into a "minimalist decks are worthless" kind of thread!

If others may have expressed such a sentiment, it's certainly not what I'm intending to say here. See the last paragraph in my post above.
 

lantana

I'm not really getting this whole "quick cash grab" idea. While Tarot is more popular than it was before, its still not fully in the public conscious, so these decks are still being sold to a very niche market. If an artist wanted to do an easy money making project, a series of 78 pictures that need to be connected to a system, printed in card form, written about in a guidebook, and then self-marketed and sold over the course of many months and even years is NOT that. At all.

I like Tarot a lot (well, obviously) and even I think I couldn't pull off making a deck. It's a LOT of work, even if your style is minimalist. I just can't see how this is opportunism, because for most of these decks the ends won't justify the means.