Taking inspiration from the 17th century alchemical engravings as well as Marsile Ficin’s influence over the Tarot de Marseille, Maxime Simon produced a serie of heavily symbolistic drawings mimicking the structure of the original Tarot.

 

Arcane is a serie of 22 watercolor and ink drawings evoking the craft of Florentine renaissance card makers. The artwork is modular and the serie should be considered as one unit of shifting visuals that are changing with every single display in a similar manner that the Tarot cards reveal a different set of images with every reading. This idea of evolving narration plays a central role in Simon’s work.

 

Here, the concept of a constant reinterpretation of the different aspects of a subjects, similar to the various interpretations of myths or religious texts, is used to define a state of introspection for the viewer.

Through the use of universal and instinctive visual language, the serie echoes with our own serie of personal images that defines our identity; and by the physical manipulation of the artwork the viewer is invited to mentally manipulate the different concepts contained in each and every cards.