Lonely Cards: Playing Card Decks That I Cut Straight To The Heart

Hello, my name is Dan Levin. I cut cards... literally. As an artist, I work with many mediums but cutting up playing card decks has become a full-time preoccupation. It started with a few vintage decks that I found at a garage sale. I was fascinated by their history. I’m not sure why I decided to cut them up. Probably because I like to deconstruct objects in my other art disciplines such as sculpture and assemblage.

I began cutting the Kings’ and Queens’ faces first, but there was something missing. Almost by accident, I turned a deck upside down and looked at the patterns and had a “wait a second” moment. From that point on it was about the pattern and cutting through all 51 cards in a deck to get to the final card, the Ace of Hearts (occasionally the 2 or 10 of Hearts if the truth must be known).

A few years on and I’ve deconstructed hundreds of Lonely Hearts playing card decks. I have hundreds of decks around the studio waiting their turn to be cut up. In fact, there’s a good chance I’m cutting cards as you are reading these words. It’s a problem.

About the artist - me: born in Los Angeles in the 1960’s. Raised near New York City and back to California for a degree in graphic design and fine art in 1984. I have exhibited in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Ohio, Connecticut, Australia and France with work in collections from New York City to New Zealand.

More info: Etsy | danlevin.com