Deviant Moon

The record

Long awaited by the online tarot community, the Deviant Moon Tarot has also been thirty years in the making by artist and storybook illustrator Patrick Valenza. Patrick developed his artistic style in adolescence and has been working on his imagery for many years. Not only an accomplished artist, he also has knowledge of tarot and has studied the traditional cards closely. His website shows thirteen hand-painted major arcana cards made when he was fifteen, with very recognisable characteristics – some only slightly altered in appearance (though recreated via photo manipulation) for the published deck. His very unique style has been expanded across the full 78 card deck, with no less attention to detail and variation in the theme. Artistically, the cards are incredibly strong and equally consistent from the Fool all the way through to the King of Pentacles. They are dark on the surface and underneath; photographs from cemeteries and tombstones have been morphed and twisted into other elements of the cards: clothing trim, headgear and shoes. The backgrounds are urban and industrial, scenes are often set outdoors but there is little natural environment; the moon rises over smokestacks

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