On the cover of Cultural Anthropology 20(4) Nov 2005:
Mark Lombardi, George W. Bush, Harken Energy, and Jackson Stephens c. 1979-90, 5th Version, 1999, detail. Private Collection. Courtesy of: Donald Lombardi and Pierogi Gallery.
Artist Mark Lombardi (1951-2000) created drawings of the financial, political, and personal networks involved in late-20th-century international scandals, using lines, circles, and arches to capture the complexity of the corporate, financial, and political entanglements that characterize the present era. This detail illustrates the fortunes of George W. Bush's first oil company, Arbusto Energy, Inc. (arbusto is Spanish for "bush"), Spectrum 7 Energy, which purchased it, and Harken Energy, which acquired Spectrum 7 and rewarded Bush $2.25 million worth of stock and membership on its board. George W. Bush sold 212,140 shares of Harken Energy on June 22, 1990. Two weeks later, Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. The sale was not recorded by the Securities and Exchange Commission until March of 1991, after the first Gulf War had ended. Bill Maurer's article in this issue suggests that we should hold back our enjoyment of such mappings. Representing corporate connections through an apparently complex aesthetic still leaves in place the same idealist fantasies structuring both capitalism and its critiques. He argues for a closer examination of our own ethical stance in relation to a realm of capitalist practice that, like anthropology, lies outside pure calculation.
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