In The Defense of . . . Collage Decks

[00:00:00]Hey folks, Lexie here. You will be viewing this on July 4th. Happy 250th uh birthday to all Americans.

[00:00:14]I'm going to apologize to the rest of the world because we are obnoxious. You are going to be inundated with all of our nonsense. Um love it, hate it. Uh we're celebrating our Independence Day.

[00:00:30]and we wish we had loved it a little bit more and whatever whatever um come as no surprise to anyone that I am a huge fan of collage decks. It is the largest category of my collection. My good tarot buddies often make fun of me because I am a sucker for most decks of this particular variety. However, not all collage decks are created equal. There's minimal collage, super chaotic collage, uh magic eye types of collage. I'm sure there is something that falls in the middle of these two extremes. When it does it well, it shines.

[00:01:17]And when it's done poorly, it's immediately jarring. Uh, obviously subjective. What I look for in a collage deck might not be what you're looking for in a collage deck. Or hell, you might loathe this specific art style.

[00:01:35]Well, I'm here today with another installment of my in defense series with in defense of collage decks. Love them or hate them, collage decks are extremely popular, beloved within our community.

[00:01:53]My aim here is to potentially sway a collage hater looking at this genre of decks in a new light. You don't have to like collage, but it is a legitimate art form. And it has been for some hundred years. Talk about a little art history before we get into some collage decks, shall we? So, let's get into a little bit of art history. I did a lot of research in the last oh goodness week or so to kind of come up with this script.

[00:02:29]So, please give me a little grace. Hear me out. Then we'll get to the decks. The stuff that you're really here for. Let me trot off my decks. Parade them so you can see. Ooh, ooh, ooh. Add to wish list. Add to wish list. But sit sit through this history part. I promise it'll be enlightening. Uh the word collage comes from the French verb collier. I might be mispronouncing that but I will I will showcase the word for you here. Collier meaning to paste or to glue. The earliest forms of collage comes from the 10th century Japan when calligraphers would glue pieces of paper to surfaces to write their poetry. Gold leaf, gemstones, and other precious metals were applied to illuminated manuscripts during the Middle Ages and all throughout the Renaissance.

[00:03:24]These were desperate materials added to paper or canvas to heighten the original arts intention. Okay, but this isn't the collage that we know today.

[00:03:38]We have rich, bored housewives to thank for what we currently know as collage today. Victorian photo collage, practiced as early as the 1860s, was considered a novelty and memorabilia for aristocratic hobbyists. It was known as photo montage at the time and wasn't really considered art. This was the diance of women, right? Mary Georgina Filmer was an early pioneer by affixing photographic cutouts for albaman silver prints to watercolor canvases.

[00:04:23]Keep in mind that photography as early as the 1860s, 1870s was becoming very very cheap and readily available for your more middle class uh society individuals. So it was something that could easily be traded. little cards, little postcards, little photographs could be left in different foyers in uh this aristocrat's home, this middle class person's home. So, you had these bored housewives with nothing to do with creative backgrounds. They could paint, they could uh play the pianoforte, they could write poetry, they could do all of these things, right? But they had so much time on their hands. So when people would leave photographs in in their little lobby, in their little entrance way as almost a calling card of visitors they had, they could use this for their artistic endeavors. Of course, an art at that point, right? But I will be popping up some pictures so you can kind of see what I'm talking about.

[00:05:35]But we've come too far without actually defining our topic of conversation.

[00:05:41]Collage describes the technique and the resulting work of art in which pieces of paper, photographs, fabric, or other ephemera are arranged and stuck down to a surface. Now, of course, it took a man to legitimize this art form. Some art movements that you may want to consider when looking into the history of collage are surrealism, daism, and cubism. Now, some of the most famous artists who elevated this particular art form are going to be Max Ernst, Renee Margaret, and Pablo Picasso. I I don't know if you all heard of him. He's kind of obscure. Hannah Hawk is a notable exception being one of the very few women to come to prominence in her Daada collage. What we know as collage today is either analog photo montage, the same thing Victorian women were doing mid to late 1800s or digital photo montage. I am leaving out decoupage which hit the height of its popularity in Italy and France in the 17th century. Torn bits oferary art traveled from Siberia and China only to be glued onto boxes and jars for for the amusement of the elites in Europe.

[00:07:11]I won't bore you any longer with the art history lesson you you didn't ask for.

[00:07:18]So let's close the history textbook and move right along to our collage decks.

[00:07:24]Now these decks are going to include decks that I absolutely love. Uh different varieties of collage style in tarot decks. Um a deck that I don't particularly like but isn't going to leave my collection. And it's just an example of collage that might be a little too convoluted and chaotic for me to really um dig deeper into. And I'm going to tell you why with all this history with a literally just a snapshot of all of the research I did because Lord knows I could have included so so so much more. But this is a very dense topic of conversation. Again, this is in the defense of in the defense of collage decks. It is a legitimate art form and it's just something that I think a lot of people will poo poo, you know, and and again, like I said, it's subjective.

[00:08:23]You don't have to like this kind of art.

[00:08:26]I know tons of people who don't like pop art or uh Jackson Pollock and and that's that's a that's a taste thing, right?

[00:08:35]But you kind of need to understand and respect what the artist was doing in that particular time and in their movement to really understand why you dislike it. Or you know what, you don't need you don't even need to understand why you dislike it just to respect it for how it forced art to move forward. Anyway, let's move on to a couple of decks here.

[00:09:01]And I hope I haven't bored you with this very very short um art history lesson in uh collage. Let's move along. A common complaint I get in my comments is Lexi, you do not show enough decks. Lexi, you do not entice enough FOMO. And to that I say, well, I am here to correct that.

[00:09:30]Let's talk about a couple of collage decks that I absolutely adore. Maybe one that I don't like so much. Let's start off with a banger. Um, I want to say that this is the very first edition. I do not know for absolutely sure. The guide book tells me that it is, but you know, I I I mistrust anything and everything that I read. Uh, we are talking about the Voyager Tarot. I believe this is a 1984.

[00:09:59]I do apologize. It's shiny, shiny, shiny, glossy.

[00:10:06]Y'all, this is a classic, right?

[00:10:10]Um, we are still doing this kind of collage. We have never stopped.

[00:10:17]This is that kind of magic eye collage that I was talking about. There's so much to see. There's so much to take in.

[00:10:26]It's and something that I found out and that I learned with uh my research into collage decks is it's all about identity. Identity of the artist and identity of the piece of work itself.

[00:10:43]And and think about tarot as a whole, right? This is 78 opportunities to really define these archetypes. really understand what's going on in the card and how you can how you can translate that with again like I said disperate pieces of media whether they be photography whether they be uh ads whether they be uh bits of paper with poetry whether they be gemstones there's so many I I have to hold I have to hold this at an angle so you can see it because because like I said it is glossy but there are so many different elements when you're dealing with collage, right?

[00:11:30]That's probably one of my favorite fools. I Oh my god, I love that. That seems like the the Fourth of July weekend that I'm going to be having.

[00:11:43]Uh, no, I just again, if this is not the first edition, please let me know.

[00:11:52]I just think it's a classic for a reason. People have and and it and it's still in print. This deck is older than I am and it's still flipping in print.

[00:12:02]Why? Why would you think that is?

[00:12:05]Because people are still getting things out of this 40 plus years later, right?

[00:12:12]And there's so many decks that kind of pay homage that really look to this as as a starting point of what collage in tarot can and do, right?

[00:12:31]I don't know why I keep showing y'all this. It's not anything you haven't seen 3,000 times before. I've used it a few times and I do really enjoy it. I love these backs. I remember talking about it before. This reminds me of uh the band of Montreal. Great band, Cool Mandala. So, yeah, that was the Voyager Tarot. I could not have this conversation without talking about this bad boy because it's a an amazing, fabulous deck. And some decks are of a time and a place, and some decks are timeless, but those two can coexist. This is definitely of a time and of a place, but to me, it's absolutely timeless. It's just always going, if it ever goes out of print, I will be shocked and surprised and watch two weeks from now. Y'all, y'all better buy it up. Y'all better scoop it up.

[00:13:26]Bye. Bye. Bye. That's what the deck parade is all about. That's what the trotting of the decks is about is to entice FOMO and make you buy this deck.

[00:13:35]Buy it. Buy it.

[00:13:40]Moving right along. Um, I got this from some sort of Facebook tarot group many years ago. Um, I am talking about this goes back to our our good old Victorian women we have to thank for collage being so mainstream. I am talking about the dramatus persona tarot and this is the first printing and I got like number 25 of 100. I saw this on a Facebook tarot group some many years ago. Love these backs. But this feels like the original intention, right? Just clipping up old photos. Now, this is a little bit later than those because I I want to say this is like uh early 1900s into like the 1910s, 1920s.

[00:14:41]Please, anyone correct me if they know for sure.

[00:14:46]And I believe I want to say these are like opera or stage performers. So these weren't just regular people, you know, being themselves out in the world. These were actors, actresses.

[00:15:06]It's very soft and delicate and feminine. And I often have a difficult time with uh photographs of other people especially, you know, like if I don't know them, but if so much time passes, this is almost in memoriam. Got to love that temperance of them and what their life stood for and their their life. I I would never do like ancestor work with something like this. Not that I ever really technically do ancestor work, but um anytime there are these Victorian kinds of images and and it's touted as like a ancestor work deck, I'm just like, well, that's a little disrespectful because you don't really know those people. I know they're they're popped into this little section so you can use them as people, you know. I don't know. I just think that's kind of disrespectful because these these were real people, right? I don't know. But uh this goes back to um what is it? Mary Georgina Filmer. I I've been her art is amazing. Hopefully I've included some um images of what she did and and I look at it and it's so contemporary.

[00:16:25]Uh but yeah, we we'll leave it here on the death card here. So that was the dramatus persona tarot. I do not know if that is um still in print. And you know actually something I did instead of ending let's go to something I wanted to say about this. I know we said we were going to end on death but I I just wanted to kind of talk about this is what I'm talking about when I talk about simple collage. Right? This is done very very very well. It really brings your eye to the center of it of of the card of the art with just this beautiful stark background, this color. And all you're focusing on is that bush on those pentacles and then this woman here just kind of looking and contemplating the scenario of this particular card.

[00:17:20]Right? Minimal collage is very very difficult to do. It's easier to do chaotic collage just throwing a bunch of [ __ ] against a surface and seeing what sticks and what looks good, what's cohesive together. But doing something like this is often very difficult to achieve artistically because you're creating a lot of emotion, a a lot of substance with very very few objects. Okay, let's move along. Some people have been kind of waiting for this. This is the one deck that I own in my collection that I'm not especially fond of. I'm just not like crazy about it. It's not a bad deck. Um I don't think any deck is truly a bad deck. Even the decks that I truly loathe, you know, they they all stand for something and mean something to someone in their collection. And I'll never I'll never hate on that. If if there's something that I dislike that you absolutely love, who am I? I am no one in in your life, in your collection, in your practice at all. I'm just giving my opinions, right? So, if you love this deck, I do apologize. But h [sighs and gasps] again, I don't hate this deck. I just h I don't know. I'm talking about the Aqua Marie Collage Tarot deck. Something about this, I don't know if it's still in print. These backs, I actually I actually kind of do like these backs. I think they're fun. I think they're interesting. I think they're a little quirky and like I don't know. I I like this as a throw blanket. Anyway, um it's my least favorite because honestly I feel like I feel like the art is too small for the card. If it were a little bit larger, it might be a little bit better. Um, and and the art just kind of looks clunky.

[00:19:26]I don't know. This is that chaotic cha This is that chaotic collage that I was talking about. There's just too too much going on. I don't really And that I think that's the cover of the box. This this I don't mind.

[00:19:48]It's there are just more cards in here that I dislike than I actually like.

[00:19:54]I don't know. I don't I don't hate it, but I don't love it. It's there's just something that seems a little bit meh, a little bit off. Um let's see. I love this. I love this. I feel like this is very honed down a little bit. I don't know.

[00:20:14]I like this too.

[00:20:20]I don't really like that.

[00:20:22]I like that. They're just there are more cards.

[00:20:28]Oh, I hate that.

[00:20:31]I can get into that. Hate it.

[00:20:35]Hate it.

[00:20:37]I I don't know. I can go on and on the pros and cons of the Aqua Marie. Uh just I don't know. I I want to keep it. I want to see how it fits in. I might give it one or two more tries and after that if it if it's not doing it for me I I might just rehome it because it is a good deck and I'm sure that someone I'm just so neutral leaning more toward disliking it. And I don't know if y'all have this deck and you love it.

[00:21:11]Please let me know. Why do you love it?

[00:21:13]Because I just don't see it. I just don't get it. I I wish it were a little bigger. That might be my biggest thing.

[00:21:21]Uh anyway, let's move right along.

[00:21:23]Moving from a deck that I'm pretty neutral on to a deck that I absolutely adore. I would be a fool if I did not mention the Burning Tiger Tarot. First of all, y'all know I love these bags. So good.

[00:21:40]Um, this collage looks very refined and romantic and cohesive and it feels a little bit unconventional with the art. And what I mean by that, you can see perfectly kind of what I'm talking about right here. You see how those cards are different sizes? There are several different sizes of art. I also like how some of the art is coming out of the frame into the white border, right?

[00:22:14]None of these bits of art are exactly the same size and none of them are contained within that frame. And of course, I've talked about a white border containing a piece of work. Especially with collage, I find I find that I like borderless things. And I also find that I like bordered things, right? And with collage, a good border really does or bad border can make or break a deck as far as collage is concerned for me. And I cannot wait to get back into this deck. I don't know how I'll fold it in to to a monthly edit, but I I Oh god, that's beautiful. Right.

[00:23:02]I do not know if this deck is still in print. Uh it might be I if I'm not mistaken, I think I had heard some whispers about there being a guide book.

[00:23:14]Y'all, is that hierofphant not amazing?

[00:23:20]So good.

[00:23:23]It's it's it's a beautiful, very refined, very classy, very elegant um collage deck. If you have it in your collection, ju just know that you have Oh my god, is that not gorgeous? Just know that you have a lovely, beautiful museum quality. You know what? Let's end it there. Let's end it there. It is my devil year. Baby, I can't wait to get to the end of the year to talk about my devil year because I've been in it. I've been loving it. Anyway, that was the Burning Tiger Tarot.

[00:24:01]There are a couple additional extra cards in here. Um, I don't know about you. I'm I'm thinking about potentially putting this in my next video. I don't know. I'm giving too much away as I always do.

[00:24:16]Uh, I don't want additional cards in my deck. I mean, if they're there, I will use the option of picking and choosing which I want to include in the deck, but I want a 78 card deck. I don't want an 80 card deck. I don't want a 90 or 100 card deck, right? I I just want my 78 cards. Talk about the Myand Collage Tarot deck for a moment. Um, y'all, this is an earnest, really sweet deck.

[00:24:56]This is another example of Oh god, I love me West is the High Priestess. Shut up. Oh my god. Sorry. I'm like trying to put the cards down and and read my notes and there's a lot going on. Got people doing yard work right next to me. like uh too much going on. Um this is the the more simplified less is more uh ripped down collage which is often difficult to do um because you're forced to focus on fewer elements.

[00:25:32]So when I show it my god isn't that so good.

[00:25:40]So recently the uh Kickstarter Playd date with the universe uh came to wide distribution. They got a they got a website. You can now order it. And I've looked at a couple of different uh Playd date with the universe just images that I've seen via Kickstarter, via the website, via the Instagram, via different elements.

[00:26:09]And I was I was hyped to buy it. And then I really started looking at it and I'm like, "Guys, I I I have this. I have this. I don't need Playd date with the universe. The only thing that's kind of meh on this deck is, hang on, let me find it. Here we go.

[00:26:30]Is the font. The font's not the best.

[00:26:34]And the reason why the font kind of sucks and and this like title border right here is because they originally collaged this around uh the RWS. They just cut out all of this and used the title at the bottom. And they wanted to utilize Pixie's font. But while the RWS art is out of uh is is in the public domain and out of copyright, they can use the art, right? But you cannot use the font. So, there's I I think US Games owns the copyright to the font. If anyone is smarter than me and does better research than me, uh, please let me know because y'all, I am not infallible. I get things wrong all the flipping time. Correct me. Correct me.

[00:27:30]And I will be like, "Girl, no, you're right. You're right. I'm wrong. I just wanted to bring this to everyone's attention." Uh, but yeah, I don't need Playd date with the universe. It It looks like a cool deck. I do not. These backs are atrocious. I hate these flipping bags, but what are you going to do of the uh Myand uh this is a long one because this is exactly what it's written down. It's written on the box as my land collage tarot deck just like the Aqua Marie is Aquamarie collage tarot deck.

[00:28:08]Anyway, cannot make a video about collage decks without mentioning my first and favorite collage deck. I am talking about Couture Tarot.

[00:28:21]Uh, this is the indie version. I know there is a mass market version. I'm not entirely sure when that came out, but oh god, I got this back in 2021, 2022, around that general time frame. I have spoken about it before.

[00:28:40]Like I said, it is one of my absolute favorite collage. No, it is my favorite collage deck. I I won't even joke about that. Um, this is fashion. This is there there's so many elements to take in all at once, right? But it doesn't seem too chaotic. At least to me. To me, like I said, this is fashion. This is editorial. I love this nine of cups. I love it. Um, oh, that's a beautiful eight of There's There's just so much going on in this deck that that speaks to whoever or whatever Lexi is.

[00:29:25]Come on. Come on. What's not to like?

[00:29:29]Well, you know, I don't really care for these backs. It seems I don't like that. But uh honestly at this point if if a deck I love has a truly awful, terrible, atrocious back, it makes me love it even more because like gh what? Couture. Oh, how original.

[00:29:51]Well, y'all let me know. Is the uh is the uh mass market version is the back different at all? Because if it is, I might get it. H I love him.

[00:30:06]And you know, I I often talk about like disliking anthropomorphized animals, but when it's like a collaged head, like a collaged animal head on uh an elegant gentleman or elegant woman, it seems different. Be Oh my god, this is one of my absolute favorite high priestess priestesses, priest, whatever, you know.

[00:30:38]This video is a mess.

[00:30:41]Like collage.

[00:30:43]Like collage.

[00:30:46]Is that not a cool flipping uh Wheel of Fortune? Get out of town. That's amazing. Oh, I love it. Look at it. It's so good. All right. So, the very last deck that we are going to be talking about today, do y'all even know what it is?

[00:31:08]Let's do a little reading with Couture just because why the [ __ ] not?

[00:31:19]Who wants to claim it? We'll do this card.

[00:31:28]Two of Pentacles.

[00:31:32]Stop.

[00:31:37]As the door opens. How interesting. How fertuitous. Stop.

[00:31:44]So, it took me a minute to put Couture away. It It's a whole nightmare. It's always been kind of a nightmare to put away, but you know, the more difficult a deck is to get to know, the more I like it. Anyway, what was your guess of the very last deck we're going to be talking about today?

[00:32:12]Yeah. Come on. Come on. I couldn't not mention it, right?

[00:32:17]Uh, I couldn't end this without what is essentially the modern Voyager Tarot.

[00:32:28]Y'all, this is like the same deck in like different fonts. [laughter] I I hate to say they're not really the same kind of energy, but they're the same if you if you know what I mean. If you get what I mean, right? They're both very deep. They're both very esoteric.

[00:32:45]Now, is one a little corny and and is one a little pretentious? Yeah. But like the art speaks for itself. So, I like I said, I wanted to start it off strong. I wanted to end it off strong. Uh and and this will be in order because I've never actually technically used this deck. I don't know if I ever will. Uh this is the marked version. You can see it's never been used because you got that uh king of pentacles, right? And then what would be the first card in this? Oh, this is a modern tarot classic. We all know it. We all love it. We've all seen it. Um, now be I've never personally used this marked edition, uh, just because I have the lust version and I don't really see I I don't know why I purchased this. And truth be told, how many versions of this deck are there?

[00:33:55]Cuz I I I feel like there are like 12.

[00:33:59]Y'all y'all please correct me if I'm wrong. I I always feel Oh, wait.

[00:34:03]Probably can't show that.

[00:34:07]I just want to get it to my card.

[00:34:13]Love her. Love her. This is so rich and full of esoteric meaning and symbolism.

[00:34:20]Again, this is classic collage territory in our community.

[00:34:28]I I don't want to go any further than that. Like I said, it's in order. It is what it is. Never used it. Maybe I should get rid of it. Or not get rid of it. That sounds terrible. Uh, trade it for something. I don't flipping know.

[00:34:42]So, those were all the coll I I own tons of collage deck there. There are a bunch of decks that I'm not showing. I just wanted to kind of whittle it down to my hits, my exemplary examples of so on and so forth. uh one deck that I'm just a little iffy, a little meh on. But all of these decks are in my collection for one reason and one reason only. I truly do love the art form of collage. I love identity. I love looking for things in the margins. I love boundaries and borders.

[00:35:25]There there's there there's something that's so uniquely interesting and captivating about collage that when someone says, "Oh, I don't like collage decks."

[00:35:38]I say, "Okay, well, I don't think you know what you're missing." I don't think you know what you're missing because there's so much it it's like a boundless ocean of stuff you can dive into. Um, I did not showcase any uh collage oracle decks, but I'm not really an oracle girly. Uh, I can I I typically use a lot of tarot as oracle anyway. Just this just how my brain works or whatever. Um, I can't think of any collage deck collage collage oracle decks that I would showcase currently. Before we end, I'll just do a little Road to nowhere. One of my uh white whale. I don't say unicorn, I say white whale.

[00:36:30]This again, shiny.

[00:36:34]You know, I love my gloss.

[00:36:36]Just got to find a way to kind of showcase it, right?

[00:36:45]I love it.

[00:36:52]It's like cool California chick.

[00:36:56]It's like Coachella before Coachella became a thing, right? Like the original Coachella. I don't know. Uh so yeah, that was everything that I wanted to talk about. I [sighs] if you if you still dislike collage, I get it. I kind of do. I understand it.

[00:37:14]Uh, but it's something that everyone everyone should have at least one collage deck. At least one collage deck uh that they truly know and that they truly love. There are so many out there.

[00:37:29]It's a very popular genre of deck. And I do think that I've hit maximum capacity. I do believe that I've hit a plateau. There might be one or two or three that are still lingering out in the the wilderness of Kickstarter to to to get to me sooner rather than later.

[00:37:50]Uh but there, like I said, there are decks that I'm just not buying because they remind me of other decks. So, I have turned down in the past two months like four decks. Not all of them collage, but four decks. I would say three of them were collage. And I was just like, "No, I I I think I I've I've hit the max. I'm good. I have a lot of different collage." Like I said, I didn't feature every single collage deck that I wanted to talk about. I just kind of wanted to do like a roundup. But anyway, this video is way too long, way too rambly. I will end it here and say thank you, thank you, thank you very much. Uh, in the defense of collage decks, uh, love them, hate them, let me know. What are your favorites? Do you do you own any of the decks that I've showcased today? Do you love them? Do you dislike them? What do you think about the Aqua Marie? Uh, what do you know about collage art history? That would be really cool because, like I said, I did a very brief synopsis of it from my research. And um I hope you guys are having a happy happy boisterous joyful uh July 4th and I will see you next week with some more content. I hope you guys have a very good day. Happy 4th. Bye folks.