"The Master Mason"

Not all art utilizing the square and compasses, or masonic symbols such as the embroidered aprons seen in this example, is intended to be masonic. In this example, the artist has chosen masonic symbols, not to represent Freemasonry, but as an artistic shorthand for powerful elites.

ART

MASONIC GRAPHICS

MASONIC ART

Jim Shaw, "The Master Mason"

Michigan-born, Los Angeles-based artist Jim Shaw (b. 1952) held a show at the Simon Lee Gallery in London, from October 2020 through January of 2021. In the words of the gallery: "Shaw has never been one to shy away from provocation.... Shaw's monsters and villains, whether real or fictional, are larger than life; ultimately, these paintings convey a sense of vicissitude that is reflective of the country's ever-shifting sociopolitical landscape."

In this one painting, Shaw presents USA President, Donald Trump, and his circle as freemasons. Jim Shaw is known to collect "pamphlets, paintings, banners, and books from various religions, para-religions, cults, and sects: Mormons, Scientologists, Freemasons, and fringe groups." Without knowing more about the artist and his body of work, it is not possible to know if Shaw is suggesting that these people are Freemasons—which they are not—or if he is using the masonic imagery as an artistic shorthand for power elites, or if he is intentionally overturning the conspiritorial trope that conflates Freemasonry with the non-existent Illuminati, the so-called New World Order and the "Deep State" that pervades much contemporary paranoid thinking.

© 1871-2004 Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon A.F. & A.M. Updated: 2020/12/27
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