New World Order: An Illuminati Image Search!

Or (alternate blog entry title): "In Which Janna Spends Way Too Much Time Jabbering About the Illuminati"

I have a piece in Light Grey Art Lab Gallery's upcoming Message in a Bottle show! The theme of the show is illustrations that are cryptic, secretive, and/or have hidden images or illusions. I've always been interested in secret societies, so I decided to make a piece about one of the most famous ones, the Illuminati. 

Detail: horns galore!

The Illuminati was started by Adam Weishaupt in Bavaria in 1776 as a group for Enlightenment-minded men to - supposedly - just talk shop and chillax. Ten years later the Bavarian government shut the group down and most scholars say that was that. Many other people, however, believe that the Illuminati persisted in secret, its members infiltrating various existing societies (such as the Freemasons) and world governments (such as our own U.S. of A). Some even believe that the Illuminati goes back even further than 1776, relating them back to the infamous Knights Templar of the Middle Ages and even further back, to ancient Egypt. 

Detail: Jammin'

For hundreds of years the Illuminati have been blamed for everything from causing world wars, to poisoning the populous with fast food and toxic "chemtrails" in the sky, to covering up alien abductions and reptilian humanoids living under the earth. However their ultimate goal, most believers say, is to create one world government led by the Antichrist. Pretty much every politician and celebrity you can think of has been accused of Illuminati ties, including (bizarrely) many popular rappers, in recent years. Illuminati conspiracy theorists can be anyone from gun-toting, apocalypse shelter-owners to teenage kids in hip-hop clubs. Poll your friends and relations and you may find a few Illuminati conspiracy theorists among them (I've found a couple)!

Detail: hip-hop royalty

I've been wanting to do an image search piece for a while, and I figured the mysterious world of the Illuminati was a great theme to work with. I spent three days alone in my room doing nothing but reading Illuminati conspiracy theory blogs and message boards in order to find out what people are currently saying about the Illuminati. It was fascinating and fun and incredibly creepy. Every celebrity, character, and symbol in the image search references real Illuminati conspiracy theories I found in my search. 

Detail: Perhaps the best thing I have ever painted, ever.

Okay, I know that trip to the department of back story was totally superfluous, but thanks for sticking with me anyway. Click on the image below to find all of  the Illuminati figures and symbols, BEFORE THEY FIND YOU!

PS: Extra points if you can find me, the artist! 

PPS: The Message in a Bottle show opens January 25th at Light Grey Art Lab and runs through February 15th. If you're in the area of Minneapolis, Minnesota please check it out and snap some photos for me!

PPPS: If you're fond of "New World Order: An Illuminati Image Search" and want to look at it all the time (or hate it and want to throw darts at it), PLEASE PURCHASE PRINTS HERE.

Visions

Trying to catch up on posting some projects from this spring! I created these three illustrations to accompany a paper a friend/former professor of mine was presenting at a medieval conference. The subject of the paper is three prophesies or visions that supposedly occurred during a secret meeting at the Carmelites Order during France's Cabochien Revolt of 1413, chronicled by the historian Jean Juvenal des Ursins in the 1450s.

The first vision describes three suns over France, which very likely refer to the three sides at odds over the land: the Burgundians; the reigning king, Charles VI/his son, Charles VII; and Henry V (alternatively, the three parties could be Henry V, Charles VI, and Charles VII). The image of three ruling bodies in the sky is unnatural, just as it is unnatural for one kingdom to have three kings.

The 2nd vision shows three weather formations in the sky heading toward Paris. Stormy weather comes from Burgundy and England, but sunshine (hope for the future) radiates from the area of Orleans/Berry, where after 1420 Charles VII, the future king, is camped out and waiting to return.

The third vision is the most dramatic, showing the king of England, Henry V, standing triumphantly atop Notre-Dame while the mentally ill king of France, Charles VI, is exiled to the courtyard and flanked by men wearing black.

 

The time during which these visions supposedly took place was an incredibly tumultuous one for France. While the king was incapacitated with madness the Burgundians and Armagnacs fought for control of the government, while the Cabochiens rallied and rioted in an attempt to resist the growth of government, taxation, and the dominance of the court on the political world.

The chronicler writes about these visions many years later, after Charles VII has restored his control over France.Jean Juvenal des Ursins is a royal official in Charles VII's service, and was a loyal Armagnac, as was his father, throughout the Civil War. He is clearly including these visions in his chronicle with a political agenda. He uses "history" and the concept of prophesy to basically say that the right guys won, that this outcome was meant to be.

This was a really fun project for me. The Middle Ages is one of my favorite periods of history and it was fascinating to learn a bit about the Cabochien Revolts and the 40 or so years after.