The artist who painted conspiracies: the mysterious death of Mark Lombardi
As the late prophet Bill Hicks once said, the rich and powerful have a habit of killing those people who dare to stand against them; “Shut him up! I’ve got a lot invested in this ride. Shut him up!” Although he played it for laughs, it seems that, throughout history, those who have gotten close to exposing the secrets of powerful governments and corporations have met an untimely end. Whether or not artist Mark Lombardi can be included in that category remains a mystery. Still, either way, he did seem to know too much for the comfort of the elites presiding over contemporary politics.
One of the most notable conceptual artists of the 20th century, Lombardi’s work often centred around abuses of power, fraud and conspiracy theories. The most famous works created by the New York artist were created a few years prior to his untimely death. They were usually pencil drawings linking various power structures, crimes and conspiracies to suggest that these conspiracies were all orchestrated and connected with each other. This work gave Lombardi a reputation as one of the most promising artists to come from New York since Keith Haring or Andy Warhol.
As his work progressed, Lombardi became more and more obsessed with conspiracies and abuses of power. Particular favourites of the artists included the BCCI scandal, in which the Bank of Credit and Commerce International attempted one of the greatest frauds in banking history, as well as the Harken Energy scandal and the Savings and Loan scandal. A lot of Lombardi’s work detailed financial fraud conspiracies, but he also managed to upset the mafia during his work about the Savings and Loan scandal.
The 1990s were not short of scandal, which is perhaps why Lombardi constructed his most prolific work during the decade. It was in 1996, following his divorce, that the artist moved to Williamsburg to focus on his work. Depending on who you ask, the artist either became unhealthily obsessed with conspiracy or came closer and closer to uncovering the whole rotten mess going on behind the scenes of American society.
As the decade drew to a close, Lombardi was on top of his game. In addition to opening an exhibition at one of New York’s most iconic galleries, the Pierogi, the artist was experiencing more attention and popularity than ever before. People were desperate to buy his work, and Lombardi was financially stable for one of the first times in his life. Yet, despite all of that, on March 22nd, a day before his 49th birthday, the king of neo-conceptualism was found hanging from a rope in his apartment, next to a bottle of champagne inside a locked apartment.
Given the subjects of his artwork, fans quickly considered the death to be the establishment attempting to silence Lombardi: “Shut him up! I’ve got a lot invested in this ride; shut him up”. However, that theory might be something more than the ramblings of conspiracy-obsessed cranks. After all, Lombardi was firmly on the radar of both the CIA and FBI, clearly shown by their investigation into his work following the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre. Furthermore, shortly before his death, his final work on the BCCI scandal, which detailed the long lineage of controversy linked to the bank, was mysteriously damaged while in a gallery, adding to the mysterious nature of his death.
The official ruling was suicide, though rather hastily. Reports from the time paint a picture of a distinct lack of investigation into the death, with the time of death never established and the ruling of suicide based on the testimony of someone who proved to be increasingly unreliable during the interview process, according to those close to the matter. Whether or not the artist’s death was a suicide or a silencing, his work remains an important reminder of the need to question power structures and hold the rich and powerful to account.