GAMES, GAMBLERS & CARTOMANCERS: The New Cardsharps revisited the storied art historical trope of card play and used Newport’s historical and contemporary card-playing customs as the basis to explore wide-ranging interpretations of cards and their associated cultures throughout history.
Each of the artists in GAMES, GAMBLERS, & CARTOMANCERS created work that engages with the iconography, mythologies, and practices of card play. The artists featured in the exhibition are Tina Barney, Cecily Brown,Francesco Clemente, Elizabeth Colomba, John Currin, Austin Eddy, Hadi Falapishi, Shara Hughes, Rashid Johnson, Sanya Kantarovsky, Karen Kilimnik, Sean Landers, Tala Madani, Rob Pruitt, Walter Robinson, Katja Seib, and Katie Stout.
46 Clarke Street (otherwise known as “The Vernon House”), is apt for an exhibition reflecting a complex and layered history. Colonization is present in the very fabric of the building and is a thread connecting the Vernon House to a wider conversation about the impact of colonization and globalization (both past and present). Many of the works in the exhibition engage with these same issues, as the evolution of card playing is tied into the history of colonization and cross-cultural exchange.
