Marina Reutova

Tecnica: Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, incorporating texture paste to build raised surface relief, with 23-karat gold leaf and 925 silver leaf. Transparent drop-like forms punctuate the composition. Every dot is applied individually by hand, a slow and meditative process that builds the surface through thousands of accumulated marks.

Dimensione: 70 x 100 cm

Anno: 2024

Descrizione: Inspired by the Empress of the Tarot of Marseille, an Empress with a Thousand Faces reflects on life as an ever-changing process of becoming.

The Empress has no face. Rather than depicting many identities, I chose to leave her face completely blank. To me, life cannot be confined to a single image. Every form it takes is only a temporary expression of something infinitely greater.

Throughout the creation of this painting, I found myself recognizing the Empress in my own life – in the countless roles I inhabit, as an artist, a woman, a partner, a friend. I saw her in joy and in grief, in moments of certainty and transformation. Her “thousand faces” are not portraits but the infinite manifestations of life itself.

While remaining faithful to the visual language of the Tarot of Marseille, the blank face opens the archetype beyond representation. It becomes a space of infinite possibility, inviting each viewer to encounter their own reflection within it.

For me, the Empress embodies Shakti – the creative force that continuously gives birth to existence. Identity is never fixed or complete; it unfolds, deepens, and transforms. In that sense, the absence of a face is not a lack of identity but the presence of limitless becoming.