Art Critic Discusses Mk10ART’s Latest FR-Inspired NXIVM Sketches and Watercolors

By Gwen Cunningham

The esteemed and remarkable editor of the Frank Report asked me to write my thoughts on art created by that enigmatic artistic luminary MK10ART.

MK10ART invites us on a journey into the realms of NXIVM, and the crazed world Keith Raniere created. For several years, MK10ART has created exquisite paintings and aesthetic drawings inspired by the brilliance of Frank Report stories.

Below is a collection of pieces inspired by recent Frank Report stories, with my commentary on the artist’s style and the substance of the subject.

This captivating sketch defies conventional boundaries of what we call ugliness; it depicts as MK10ART writes:

Convicted felon Clare Bronfman  discovered that vexatious litigation doesn’t work so well on prison officials. She became so demoralized that she actually said “please” in a recent request to them. Naturally it was a bossy ‘please’ underlined and overlined but at least she’s trying. Her request was denied.

MK10ART’s “Attorney #gregorystolz Defends Nxivm cult leader #keithraniere,” 

This sketch of Raniere in his prison garb with newer attorney Gregory Stoltz unveils a symphony of visual idiocy, orchestrating a narrative that anyone who still believes in Raniere’s Gandhi impersonation is either inherently a jackass, or has a studied dishonesty which many lawyers possess. If it is the former, Stoltz’s lack of discernment fights against the moral instincts for survival.

MK10ART’s interplay of water colors command attention, imbuing “Roberts Defends Her Role in Branding Women” with purposeful intensity. The palette — from her complexion to the cautery pen in hand — fairly dances on the canvas and at first glance belies the grim meaning of the brand. This appropriately calls our attention to the background with an eerie sense of an ominous event that leaves me vaguely uneasy.

In “Sarah & Nippy Reflect on Gaslighting, Grooming, and Making Money in NXIVM,” MK10ART  treats of the metamorphosis of two followers turned whistleblowers, revealing the introspection of Sarah and Nippy. The clouds whisper secrets, while the ochre to me highlights hidden facets of  human experience when adoration  turns to repugnance, defiance, fear, and triumph.

MK10ART’s command of space creates equilibrium, inviting contemplation within the interstices in “Keith Raniere’s partner of 30 years, Pam Cafritz is Entombed in Cryogenic Vault, Waiting for Future Revival.”

The arrangement of forms engenders a sense of fluidity as we envision Pam coming to life in some future century and reuniting with Raniere, perhaps as he leaves USP Tucson in 2120. This is a choreographed journey, where NXIVM is revived and Raniere reunited with his partner, whom he preserved at minus 400 degrees.

The artist quotes FR:

Several years ago, FR reported Cafritz’s body was entombed in a cryogenic vault. Cafritz’s body appears to be located in Clinton Township, MI, at Cryonics Institute. Cafritz appears to be Case 144.

The Cryonics Institute suspends humans and pets at cryogenic temperatures – ranging from – 238 F to – 460 F “in hopes that future medical technology may be able to someday revive and restore them to full health.”

In MK10ART’s “Vicente Wrote Final Warning to NXIVM Leaders Days Before Raniere’s Arrest,” we see an interweaving of technique and concept, as we imagine the introspective dialogue that led Mark Vicente from heir apparent of NXIVM to its architect of doom.

Symbolic motifs, particularly the disturbing KR brand in the backdrop – the symbol of Vicente’s defection – provoke contemplation, as it must have in the restless mind of Vicente evoking a gamut of emotions that resonated within his soul and made him convert, rebel, and bring together forces that inexorably brought his former mentor down to hell.

The convergence of the tangible and intangible, the visible and hidden, is seen in MK10 ART’s “Pam Cafritz’s Death.”

The masterful juxtaposition of the two, conveying a palpable sense of repulsiveness. From the knowing gaze of Cafritz and the weathered stone face of the man who owned her, the artist’s tactile prowess evokes an almost synesthetic experience of sensory revulsion at these two ghastly characters.

In MK10ART’s artistic narrative,”US Supreme Court Denies Raniere’s Writ of Certiorari,” we feel the profound meaning of the nearing the end of the legal road for Raniere intertwining with the justice of it in a blood red brand like a welcome mat at the doors of the highest court which almost blends in with its background, inviting the reflection that none escape the law of karma not even the smartest grand master in the world.

Allison Mack will be released on July 3, and MK10ART created “Allison Mack coloring page!” and shows how we too with paint brush, pencil or crayon can become more than connoisseurs of the fine arts, but take our own jaunt towards artistic brilliance by using our own symphony of colors, technique, concept, and emotion, in bringing Allison to life, just as she too will be restored to life in little more than a month when released from FCI Dublin after less than two-year stay.

Mack is a testament to the transformative power of life. She went from child actor to adult star to active member of a cult to later follow and lead one of its more unfortunate aspects, to criminal defendant loyal to her leader, to plea-bargainer and government cooperator, to prisoner, to coming-soon probationer with a dictum prohibiting contact with her old cult colleagues, leading to the question of what is the next transformation in her future.

In Mk10ART’s “Danielle Roberts Loses Appeal to Restore Medical License” the pigments plumb the depths of a woman’s abyss. A haunting allure emerges, veiled in shadows and cloaked in melancholy. A promising young and dedicated doctor with unique talent entered the dark and gloomy world of Keith Raniere. This work is a portal to introspection, inviting us to traverse the haunting specter that the human psyche can make stupendous blunders that the entire world can see, but to which our stubbornness is blind.

Yes, the DOSsier Project has ceased to produce weekly videos for over a month. MK10ART’s “Comments on Dossier Project Video Tend Towards Deprogramming the Six Remaining ‘Slaves’” looms as a tomb monument with its interplay of earthy hues. Its washes lend a certain ghostly quality to the work, as if it existed in a realm suspended between reality and imagination.

MK10ART’s “Too Litigious Twosome” conjures ominous darkness, and a visual tension that suggests the gloom-laden life experience of those sued by Raniere, filed by his insatiable quest for vengeance and Clare Bronfman’s unlimited money to enable it.

Emotions such as sorrow, longing, and solitude became the life of their targets and we see a palpable reflection of these emotions in the faces of the tormentors, seeping through the layers of pigments and saturating the essence of this unique artwork.

There is no solace or catharsis for the haters, both imprisoned. They cry of the injustice of the legal system they used unjustly for years on innocent people. Your wishes for others become a mirror for the depths of your own human experience.

MK10 ART’s “Clare Bronfman Transferred Back to Philadelphia FDC” continues on this theme. The allure of this watercolor lies in the artist’s ability to transport us to a realm of understanding through the desolate face and ugly vacant gaze of this unappealing subject.

There is a melancholic glimpse into one of the darker facets of the human experience – using one’s enormous wealth to hurt others through a blind adherence to the mind of a psychopath.

As the artist writes;

Claire Bronfman and Keith Raniere are learning that using vexatious litigation, in an attempt to destroy the BOP policies, is not as successful as it was when they used it to destroy former Nxivm members lives.

Yet is there nothing worth saving in Clare Bronfman? Like a whispered lament or a mournful melody, the painting invites us to explore the intricacies of our willingness to forgive if one awakens to the waste and recklessness of decades, if one makes amends, which Clare has not yet done.

Watercolor paintings possess a unique power, a delicate balance between control and surrender, the unpredictable nature of water and pigment, coaxing them into harmonious collaboration, where colors blend and mingle, unveiling gradations and washes evoking tranquility and lightness. It is an honor to publish some of the work of the great MK10ART.

MK10ART’s “Nicki Clyne Leaves Keith Raniere: Her Statement” summons the beholder to consider positive transformation. Clyne escaped late, but not too late. With her departure, the fabric of Raniere support seems rent, and in the painting the cup of gall is seen.

I am reminded again of the power of art to evoke emotions, and transport us to the world of the crazed and demented Keith Raniere, and the shadows he created. It is a world now, with Clyne’s departure and only one more legal motion – Rule 33 – left, framed largely in terms of the past.

As Clyne seems to say, “Farewell tormentor. My future success is my answer to all you are and ever will be,” so as the feature image portrays a man fading, with no one left to harm, as the shadows of his life weaken their hold on others through time and death, and the obliteration of memory which accompanies.

It was a joy and honor to have been asked to immerse myself today in the enchanting world of MK10ART watercolors and sketches.

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