Conspiracy Theories Inspire Cartoonish Greyscale Art

In 'Safeworld,' L.A. artist Rachel Lord uses occult symbols and conspiracy theories to create cartoon portraits of reality.

by Kevin Holmes

June 6, 2016, 1:10pm

Image: R.Lord, installation view at The Composing Rooms, Berlin

Los Angeles-based artist Rachel Lord has chosen to work in the ambiguous tones of gray for her latest show Safeworld, on at The Composing Rooms, Berlin, with the colors reflecting the enigmatic subject matter that the images explore.

The cartoonish paintings, full of occult symbols, references to conspiracy theories, and leftfield humor are made from charcoal and gesso, created on unprimed canvas from Lord's own sketches with no photo reference. Using these simple materials Lord, a painter who's also appeared as a performer in the videos of Lizzie Fitch and Ryan Trecartin, says she wanted to strip the images of the "more manipulative/objective aspects of painting"—perspective, vanishing point, color, texture—to convey the immediacy of what she was exploring: "The subjective aspects of concept, meaning, technique, drawing, scale, and spirit." Lord tells The Creators Project, "I use the cartoon language to create an ideogrammatic shorthand for a larger conversation so as to discuss the relationships of these theories to each other."

In the paintings, the number two, related to conspiracies via the number 23, is seen doing the Richard Nixon "V for victory" sign, its hands wearing the iconic white Mickey Mouse gloves, a character whose creator himself is shrouded in conspiracy theories. Another image has the Illumunati and internet favorite, the all-seeing eye. The picture also features a coiled serpent, a mystical symbol, and like the eye in the triangle on the dollar bill, has ties to American history via the Gadsden flag.

R.Lord Quarantine Zone, 2016 Gesso and charcoal on canvas, 240 x 166 cm

"I am interested in the taxonomical distinction of 'conspiracy' itself," explains Lord. "The differences between the Wikipedia pages for the false-flag term 'Chemtrails' and that of 'Solar Radiation Management' which is the scientific term for an on-the-books multinational policy. I am interested in the present-tense mythologies that arise from a revisionist view of history, and am invigorated by the questioning of basic assumptions like the nature of the moon and it’s relationship to the earth, a Darwinian model of evolution, time, and (outer) space."

The works are full of other references for viewers to decode, Saturnian symbols, climate change, politics, and more. "They are basic explorations of belief and systems of belief," the artist notes. "Terrence Mckenna calls conspiracy theory 'an epistemological cartoon of reality.' These are very much that. To paraphrase him again I would say that I am attempting to paint the innumerable shades of gray between the poles of spiritual and scientific discourse, a gray area oft labeled 'conspiracy.'"