It began with a deck of cards I made for my senior-thesis project at the School of Visual Arts. My style of photography back then was quiet, just documenting the everyday — a glass of water on the windowsill. Very Stephen Shore. I shot 250 images like this, selected 52 of my favorites, and made a card deck out of them. Then I made a sculpture resembling a game of solitaire with those cards for the art show. In the midst of this process, I started noticing playing cards everywhere, and my friends started to buy them for me when they’d travel. A hobby turned into a proper collection, and now I have over 70 decks, some neatly displayed on picture ledges in my living room. When I see a deck I like, I just get a gut feeling and go for it. I have cards from Japan and Mexico and from vintage stores that I’ve stumbled upon. And though I love to play rummy, I don’t play the collectible decks. I have a whole box of basic Bicycle and casino cards I use for that.
I’m a big fan of how cheeky Shrigley’s drawings are. This deck only has black suits. My friend Ranya gave it to me for my 30th birthday.
I bought these on my wedding day. My husband, Josh, and I wanted to get married in the city where we met — not in L.A., where we were moving — so we decided to go to the courthouse and elope. We stayed at 11 Howard, and I bought this deck of cards on Canal Street to mark the moment.
There’s a week in April that is packed with the birthdays of people I’m close with — lots of Tauruses. That’s why I bought this deck. It’s got a card inside with a very brief horoscope.
When we lived in New York, Josh and I often drove through Cold Spring to visit our friends upstate. I have found so much good stuff in the antique stores there. This deck either came from Bijou Galleries or Cold Spring Antiques Center.
The 14ers are mountains in Colorado that are all at least 14,000 feet high. There’s a different picture on every face, which isn’t common, and they’re all epically beautiful.
These were a birthday gift. Every single card has a different portrait on it — one ten is The Royal Tenenbaums; the jacks include Jackie O. and Jack Nicholson.
I got these at either Frieze or the New York Art Book Fair one year. It’s based on Ruppersberg’s The Novel That Writes Itself. I just love the name of this deck.
Igarashi is a graphic designer and sculptor, and this deck, which is simplistic but not simple, is a very interesting play on repetition.
I found these at a coffee shop when we first moved to L.A. Sometimes there’s a deck of cards next to the cash register and I can’t not buy it.
For Josh’s 40th, we drove to Mendocino, and I picked these up at a flea market along the way.
The bridge feels romantic and of another era. The cards are smaller than most of my others.
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