Franklin

*** Click here to view photos from the Show

JAMES CICATKO

Detail: Party by James Cicatko

Detail: "Party"
Graphite on Paper, 96" x 120", 2007

WHAT

A show of new large-scale figurative works by
James Cicatko and Lynn Schirmer
November 16 – December 8, 2007

WHERE

Ouch My Eye Gallery
1022 First Avenue S.
Seattle, WA 98134

CONTACT

www.ouchmyeye.com
Email

Franklin

The Franklin case began with the investigation of a failed savings and loan in the 1980’s. Inquiries initiated by the Nebraska State Senate eventually led to the exposure of a criminal network involved in child pornography, prostitution, and human experimentation with ties to some of the highest ranking members of the Republican Party and the White House.

Detail: Party by James Cicatko

Detail: "Party"

Statement: James Cicatko

I came across the Franklin episode while doing independent research on American current affairs, for the most part marginalized or largely unheard of accounts of our hidden history, whether it be the activities of the CIA, the interfacing of Organized Crime, Establishment, and Intelligence Agencies in illegal narcotics trafficking, assassinations, or other black operations. Of particular interest to me here is the marriage of power and corruption, and its frequent expression through or on the human body, as well as the appetites for sexual pleasure, debauchery, and torture that seem to be a coefficient of this expression. There is a depressing repetition of this throughout history, from Caligula to Ewen Cameron. What is especially troubling about more recent manifestations of this union, such as MKUltra, in addition to the heinous applications of science and technology, is an ideologically fueled paranoia and a seemingly unlimited reach for absolute control. There is also an apparent willingness to embrace and use any methodologies, individuals, or political/social groups, however amoral or depraved, to achieve certain ends. I decided to use Larry King and the Franklin case as a starting point/focus of emphasis for "Party" because it ties together so many threads of this dark expression of power. All of the attendees of the "Party" are portraits of past or current members of the American Political/Financial/Military/Intelligence Establishment that have been connected to secret mind-control programs, pedophilia, drug-smuggling, assassinations, or a combination of these, or other illegal activities.

"The Devil is part of our experience. Our generation has seen enough of it for the message to be taken extremely seriously. Evil, I contend, is not contingent, it is not the absence, or deformation, or the subversion of virtue (or whatever else we may think of as its opposite), but a stubborn and unredeemable fact." Leszek Kolakowski

James Cicatko's web site www.cicatko.com

More on the Franklin Case: http://franklinscandal.com/