Mark Lombardi (1951-2000)
draws on the major political and financial scandals of the day to
create large-scale linear diagrams that at first glance look like
celestial maps; a closer reading reveals the intricate web of connections
that lurk beneath current headlines.
From Whitewater to the Vatican Bank, Lombardi uses dotted
lines and broken arrows to chart the paths of illicit deals and
laundered money, keeping track of it all in a handwritten database
of 12,000 index cards. By
scrutinizing the mutable boundaries that separate artistic practice
from daily life, Lombardi wrings visual poetry out of dirty secrets--the
results are a chillingly
beautiful guide to the facts of life.