The Haptic Tarot

Inspired by the works of early Renaissance Flemish artist Jan van Eyck, The Haptic Tarot dives into the secrets of the cards, where hands play a central role in expressing their unique language. This deck skillfully guides seekers through a tactile journey of self-discovery, inviting them to unveil profound connections with a harmonious blend of art and technology to fully activate intuition.

The Haptic Tarot is the culmination of the author's passion for art history and design theory. By utilizing the incredibly powerful and often surprising results of generative AI, he has infused each card with select details from his knowledge and practice, creating a deck that calls users to explore the fascinating interplay between symbolism and sensation. The Haptic Tarot celebrates the fusion of tradition and innovation, offering an experience for those ready to embark on a journey of self-reflection and discovery.

"As a designer and artist, I have always dreamt of creating my own Tarot deck—one that not only captured my passion for art history but also expressed my fascination with symbology and the profound impact images have on us as humans. However, despite my love of early Renaissance painting, particularly that of the masters from the early 1400s, I struggled to manifest the vivid images in my mind onto a canvas.

The rise of generative AI prominence is a hard topic to ignore, especially as a San Francisco/Bay Area resident. Discussions regarding its positive, altruistic applications and negative, potentially dystopian implications became prevalent in my day-to-day. However, that didn’t stop me from tinkering around with the tools available to make my dream a reality."

The Haptic Tarot’s inception started in December of 2022 as I experimented with different AI platforms, prompts, visual styles, and my own image manipulation techniques. As I worked with the technology I found that the less detail that was given, the images produced were more closely aligned to what I saw in my imagination. It wasn’t until a full year later that I was able to finally bring this vision into focus, creating the decadent images that make up the 78 cards of this deck.

The artwork itself pays homage to the early history of the Tarot. Although not of Italian descent—the understood homeland of the original Tarot (or tarocchi)— Jan van Eyck’s inclusion of iconographic elements is similar to that of the artist(s) responsible for the earliest deck(s). These icons and symbols often conveyed what he saw as a co-existence of the spiritual and material worlds.

THE ARTWORK

The artwork itself pays homage to the early history of the Tarot. Although not of Italian descent - the understood homeland of the original Tarot (or tarocchi)—van Eyck’s inclusion of iconographic elements is similar to that of the artist(s) responsible for the earliest deck. These icons and symbols often conveyed what he saw as a co-existence of the spiritual and material worlds.