Tết is coming, a time of joy, new beginnings and, for some, the ideal time for card games.
Many Vietnamese believe that a lucky win during the holiday will set the tone for their prosperity for the rest of the year. Of course, money is not always involved, as you can play for slaps or weirder forms of punishment. It is the winning that counts.
However, ruthless card game defeats were not what Lê Quý Đôn, also known by the pen name Hế, had in mind when he created the project “54 Shades of Dần” — a redesign of standard playing cards with images of the tiger. For the Bình Dương-based artist, 52 cards in the deck represent the 52 weeks in a year, while the two Jokers can be seen as day and night. And so, using a cute tiger as an avatar, he infused each card with an emotion that one could experience, not just in a year, but in a lifetime.
The Year of the Ox has been a year of hardship, but there were still many moments of laughter and celebration. And so too will the Year of the Tiger, or at least we hope so when it comes to the latter. Check out Đôn’s collection here, and to see more of his work, be sure to visit his Behance.
