The Illuminator: Art, Conspiracy and Madness
Mark Lombardi, a conceptual artist on the cusp of international success, had everything to live for. So why was the 48-year-old found hanged and deemed suicidal? Was his death the ultimate conceptual art, an afterlife laugh at those who doubted his brilliance? He did, after all, carry business cards eerily portending "death defying acts of art and conspiracy." Or was he ultimately overwhelmed by the subject of his work: the financial networks connecting some of the most powerful and corrupt people on earth? His intricate drawings traced hot money, from Cold War funding to the heroin trade. But his most dogged scrutiny fell on the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, a global money laundry bankrolling fraudsters, smugglers, and CIA operations abroad. Since his death, Lombardi's masterwork on the rogue bank has been held at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Could it be responsible for his demise? The answer can only be found within Lombardi himself.
If you’d like to see Lombardi’s expansive BCCI drawing in full, please click here.
Episode 1: Angels and Devils
Artist Mark Lombardi is found dead in his apartment in mysterious circumstances – but it's his art that attracts FBI interest.
Episode 2: The Loss of Innocence
In the wake of America’s darkest day, Lombardi’s art offers a glimpse of the financial networks that shape our world—networks he uncovered years before disaster struck.
Episode 3: A Whole Other Life
As his professional and personal worlds diverge, Mark Lombardi’s life veers toward the extraordinary—and the ominous.
Episode 4: The Mother of All Bank Scandals
Mark’s obsessions engulf his life – and his marriage – in troubling ways.
Episode 6: Death Defying Acts
When genius and madness collide, some stories are cut short in ways no one expects.
