Todd DiCiurcio | Artist Collaboration
We're into traditional with a twist. Playing cards are a classic tool for connection and entertainment. The twist? Our highly anticipated collaboration with East Coast-based artist and Solento Family member, Todd DiCiurcio (TDC).
Solento: Tell us a little about yourself and your history as an artist?
TDC: I’m an American artist, a mark maker who utilizes spiritual & psychoanalytical technology to create images that become words, stories, bands, and armies of personal mythology. Reactionary to surrounding environments, my work addresses the exo-distortions inherent in the patterns of displacement in our society & concurrently investigates a dialogue between visual art & music via live drawing processes. Oh, & I love surfing and Solento.
Solento: What has been your favorite band to paint to date?
TDC: My favorite band will forever be Guided By Voices, & some of my most memorable experiences painting live was with them, Portugal. The Man & Cage The Elephant (a double header), The Killers & The Rolling Stones, all in NYC. There’s an incredible tale to each of these live adventures….something to sip over.
Solento: What were your creative guidelines for the playing cards and what is your creative process when working on something like this?
TDC: No rules. I seek miracle in the spectacle.
Solento: The more you look at the cards the more you see, what are some of the details to look out for in the Limited Edition Artists Series Cards?
TDC: Playing cards have been a global phenomenon for centuries in many cultures, & one element of its evolution belongs to the United States, The Joker. A variation of poker around 1875 is the first recorded instance of the Joker being used as a wild card. While there are many unique details to discover with each face card in this special deck, I loved the challenge of creating an original set of jokers as a stamp of original confluence with Solento.
Solento: Favorite card design in the deck?
TDC: The Jokers.
Solento: Go-to card game?
TDC: Blackjack
Solento: How do you drink your Solento?
TDC: I’m enjoying my Reposado neat lately, & a staple of mine is Blanco with a lemon wedge frozen in a rock.
Solento: It's Saturday afternoon, you are with your closest friends catching up over a Solento and a game of cards. What's the playlist?
- Guided By Voices- A Salty Salute
- The Jesus & Mary Chain- War On Peace
- The Men- Bird Song
- Gordon Lightfoot- Sundown
- The Rolling Stones- Sympathy For The Devil
- The Cure- Shake Dog Shake
- Dope Lemon- Stonecutters
- Geese- Low Era
- Ride- Dreams Burn Down
- Dry Cleaning- Scratchcard Lanyard
- Jimi Hendrix- Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
- Tribes- We Were Children
Solento: Legend says you were one of the people who originally introduced Founder Taylor Steele to sipping tequila. Let's hear your side of this story!
TDC: The legend goes that when Megs & I met Taylor, he ordered many a different cocktail during a night (& day) in our early adventures, leading me to share an ideology that was shared with me…that if you wanted to stay creative, awake, energetic & spontaneous within the nightlife of NYC, sipping only tequila (good tequila) will provide that and won’t give you a hangover. As we grew symbiotic in that realm, Taylor would invite me on the first RND trip to Jalisco, Mexico for a deep dive into the culture of tequila through its country of origin…. I documented our adventure in a drawing book and a rendering of the agave fields is used as the borderless back design for this deck.
