Scientology and the Visual Arts

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Surprised RecognitionScientology and the Visual A

Massimo Introvigne (CESNUR - UPSAAR Annual Meeting

Atlanta, GA - November 21-24, 20



Esotericism and Modern Art

! From the pioneer research by Finnish art historian Sixten Ringbom (1935academic projects and conferences Enchanted Modernities, the influen

on modern art has now been largely acknowledged



Not a Coincidence

! Esotericism was not jus

several leading modeImagination, visualizattools learned through

groups and literature ginterested in esotericis

way of perceiving the

Left: Wassily Kandinsky (1866-194(1913), a work, Ringbom arguedTheosophical ideas



Scientology and Western Esotericis

! American historian J. Gordon Melton(right) included Scientology within the

general category of Westernesotericism, arguing that its

cosmology and worldview are firmly

rooted in the gnostic tradition



Scientology and the Visual Ar

! Did Scientology influence those modern artists who got interestetheory and practices? Would it be possible to study Scientology’

on the visual arts just as we study the respective influences of TheCatholicism, or Christian Science?

! In order to address this question, I will discuss

1. Scientology’s theory of aesthetics

2. A survey of artists who are Scientologists (also based on personal

in Europe and the U.S.)



A Gnostic Narrative

! At the core of Scientolog

there is a gnostic narrativ

beginning there were thepure spirits who created M

energy, space, and timetheir own pleasure. Unfor

incarnating and reincarn

human bodies, the thetaforget that they had crea

and to believe that they

effect rather than the cauniverse



Analytical and Reactive Min

! Mind for Scientology has two parts. The analytical mind

observes and remembers data, stores their pictures asmental images, and uses them to take decisions and

promote survival. The reactive mind records mentalimages at times of unconsciousness, incidents, or pain,

and stores these images as «engrams». They areawakened and reactivated when similarcircumstances occur, creating all sort of problems



The Tone Scale

! The more the thetan believes to bethe effect, rather than the cause, of

the physical universe, the more thereactive mind exerts its negative

effects. They affect the Tone Scale,showing the emotional tones a

person can experience, and thelevels of ARC (Affinity – Reality –Communication)



The ARC Triangle! Affinity is the positive emotional

relationship we establish with others.

Reality is the agreement we reachwith others about how things are.

Communication is the most importantpart of the triangle: through

communication, we socially

construct reality and, once reality isconsensually shared, we are able to

generate affinity



L. Ron Hubbard and the Ar

!

Scientology founder L. Ron Hubb(1911-1986) was familiar with the

milieus as a successful writer of fic1951, Hubbard wrote that «there

appear a good definition for aesand art». In the same year, he de

the argument in Science of Survi

returned often to the arts, partic

articles included in technical bul1965 to 1984, which form the bac

the 1991 book Art

Ron Hubbard, portrait by Scientologist artist



The Aesthetic Mind

!

In Science of Survival, Hubbard wrote thatabove the analytical mind there are many

more mind levels. The first is the aestheticmind, which «deals with the nebulous field

of art and creation». The «strange thing» isthat in gifted artists it can keep working

even when the analytical mind is disturbed

and the reactive mind is causing its usualdamage. It is, however, a false and

«neurotic belief» that «when an artist

becomes less neurotic he becomes lessable»



Rome and Christianity

! Roman art, Hubbard wrote,good». Revolting «against R

disregard for human life», Crefused everything Roman.

Church «recovered early anappreciate the artist». But «P

Calvinism» regarded artists a

lepers». Paradoxically, many

believed they should confoimage in order to be regard

artists

Left: Roman statue of Livia (58-29 B.C.Augustus (63 B.C. - 14 A.D.)



Art and Society

! In Science of Survival, Hubbard taughtthat artists «can create any reality» and

«deal with any level of communication».«A culture is only great as its dreams, and

its dreams are dreamed by artists». Atotalitarian society «inhibits, suppresses,

or regiments its artists» and is therefore

«doomed»

Right: Hubbard in 1950



Hubbard’s Aesthetics

! Hubbard noted that art was «the less codified of

human endeavors and therefore the most

misunderstood». And less a field is known, the more it isplagued by authoritarian pseudo-experts

! Hubbard defined art as communication. When the

thetan understands himself as the cause rather thanthe effect of the physical reality, he perceives the

world in a new way. If he masters the appropriatetechnique, he is also able to produce art with a very

high communication potential



The Elusive Hubert Mathieu

! On what role technique exactly plays,

Hubbard mentioned in a bulletin of July 29,

1973 his discussions with «the late HubertMathieu». Although some who wrote

about Hubbard were unable to identifyhim, Mathieu (1897-1954, right) was a

distinguished South Dakota illustrator and

artist, who worked for magazines Hubbardwas familiar with



Technique and Communica

! Based inter alia on the idea

Hubbard came to the concthe arts communication (thimportant than technique (

but technique is not unimpwho are well-trained are ab

communicate in different s

the non-figurative – and theunderstands intuitively that

artists

Left: illustration by H. Mathieu for a shoErskine (1879-1951), Liberty Magazine,



Interacting with the Audienc

! Perceiving the world and representingit from the superior viewpoint of the

thetan is not enough. One should beable to communicate this to the

audience, which however should beinvited to «contribute part of the

meaning». This is precisely the

difference between fine art and mereillustration, where little is left to the

audience’s own contribution

Right: L. Ron Hubbard, 1987



Integration and Mood Line

! Communication is actually ac

through integration, or combian integral whole of elementsperspective, lines, colors, and

Hubbard emphasized «mood abstract line forms that influen

audience’s emotional respons

lines communicate drama anhorizontal lines, happiness and

so on

Left: Mood lines, from Hubbard’s Art



John Ormsbee Simonds

! There are several systems of mood lines described in manuals for artists. Sthe one developed by visionary landscape architect John Ormsbee Sim

above). Simonds’ theory of form was influenced by Zen Buddhism and bAnthroposophical theories he was exposed to through is mentor at Harv

Breuer (1902-1981), formerly of the Bauhaus



Color Wheels

!

Another common tool Hubbardrecommended to artists, the color wheel,

was promoted in his times throughreferences to market surveys, but in fact

had been first used in a different contextby Robert Fludd (1574-1637) and Johann

Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832). Like

many Theosophists – and marketresearchers –, Hubbard believed that

colors correspond to specific emotional

states



2. Artists and Scientology

Image: Gottfried Helnwein exhibition at the Modernism Gallery, San Francisco



An Organized Influence

! Scientology would appeaideal subject for the study

religious or esoteric worldinfluences artists. Not only

Hubbard try to propose atheory of aesthetics, but t

proposed in courses cont

offered to artists around t

Scientology’s influence onorganized, in a way that f

parallels in other contempmovements



A Controversial Subject

!

However, Scientology’s influence on artistsis understudied. One of the reasons lies in

the attacks and discriminations artistshave received because of their

association with Scientology, particularlyin Germany. There, Bia Wunderer (Horizon,

right) is one of the artists who had

exhibitions cancelled because she was«exposed» as a Scientologist. This made

some artists understandably reluctant to

discuss their relationship with Scientology



Waki Zöllner (1935-2015)

! In Germany, of all places, artists were involved in Scientology since

beginnings. When he died in 2015, painter and sculptor Waki Zöllne

who had joined Scientology in 1968, was the German with more yeScientology training



Scientology Studies 2.0?

! In 2008, the Los Angeles ma

described the circle of you

including Mercedes HelnwVanessa Prager (In Thin Air ,

the «first generation of casScientologists», whose relig

caused less controversies. S

perhaps in turn start discusworldview and multiple infl

Scientology independently

legal and other controvers



Gottfried Helnwein

! The most famous international artist who took

Scientology courses for several years, starting in

1972, was the Austrian-born GottfriedHelnwein. He became increasingly involved in

Scientology’s activities, with all his family, andwas attacked by anti-cult critics, who

promoted even a book against him (right). Thisgenerated in turn court cases and Helnwein’sincreasing reluctance to discuss his religious

beliefs



«A Consciousness Explosion

! In 1975, Helnwein told Stuttgart’sScientology magazine College t

«Scientology has caused a consexplosion in me». In 1989, in an in

Scientology’s Celebrity, Helnweinelaborated that Scientology offe

invaluable tools to survive in a w

hostile to them, but also gave himviewpoint» and an understandin

«people would react to my art»



Burroughs and «Surprised Recogni

! American novelist William Burroughs (1914-1997: photograph by Helnwein, l

Scientology courses between 1959 and 1968. Later, he strongly rejected Sci

organization, while maintaining an appreciation for its «highly valuable teche wrote an essay (right) about Helnwein, calling him «a master of surprised

show the viewer what he knows but does not know that he knows». In this srecognition» may also describe the moment when a thetan «remembers» h



The World as the Thetan Sees

! Helnwein’s unique style andapproach to reality – a

«photorealism» where paintings oftenlook as photographs (but aren’t) –

derive from multiple sources.Ultimately, however, we can perhaps

see in Helnwein’s works an attemptto depict the world as a thetan seesit, finally realizing he is its creator



Helnwein’s Chil

! Seen as it really is, the world is not pleasant, and includes suppressio

totalitarianism. Some of Helnwein’paintings include suffering childre

exposes there the society’s unackcruelty. But there is also hope. The

of Hubbard’s ideas about children

beings occupying young bodies. Atechnology, children can survive a

suppression



Against Psychiatry

!

Criticizing psychiatry’s abuses is acause dear to Scientologists. In 1979,

leading Austrian psychiatrist HeinrichGross (1915-2005), who participated in

the Nazi program for the euthanasia ofmentally handicapped children,

defended himself by stating that

children were killed «in a humane way»

with poison. Helnwein reacted with afamous watercolor, «Lives unworthy of

being lived» (right), depicting a child«humanely» poisoned by Gross



Helnwein, the Nazis, and the Holoca

! Helnwein also looked provocatively at Nazism and the Holocaust as an evil tAustrian society still refused to confront. In Epiphany I (1996), the child may o

young Adolf Hitler (1889-1945). Helnwein wants the audience, as Hubbard sucontribute part of the meaning and to understand by itself



Helnwein and Carl Barks

! Born in 1948, Helnwein reports h

escaped from Vienna’s suffoca

conformism through comics, sothe Austrian educational estab

not approve of at that time. Hea fascination for Disney’s Dona

the creator of several Donald s

Barks (1901-2000), who became(left). Both Mickey Mouse and D

featured in Helnwein’s work



Donald Duck as Metaphor

!

Barks, Helnwein wrote, created a «decentworld where one could get flattened by

steam-rollers and perforated by bullets withoutserious harm. A world in which the people still

looked proper (..). And it was here that I metthe man who would forever change my life – a

man who (…) is the only person today that has

something worthwhile saying – Donald Duck».

Perhaps, again, Barks’ Duckburg became ametaphor for Helnwein of the «clear» world

created by a technology capable of restoringthe thetans to their proper role



Helnwein and the Others

!

In 2013, Helnwein was hongreat retrospective at Vien

Albertina, which attractedvisitors, a far cry from when

was discriminated as a SciWhile Helnwein became re

relationship with Scientolog

artists declared it openly. S

through its Celebrity Centecreated a community of a

and meeting each other adifferent countries, contine

styles



Different Styles

! Scientologist artists do notshare a single style – as is true

for artists who areTheosophists or Catholics.

German-born Carl-W. Röhrig(1953-), currently residing in

Switzerland, calls his art

«fantastic realism» and is alsoinfluenced by fantasy

literature, surrealism, and

popular esotericism (see hissuccessful deck of tarot

cards). In my interviews withseveral of them, however,

some common themes

emerged



1. Scientology Themes! Röhrig is among the few Scientologist artists

who included explicit references to

Scientology doctrines in some of his paintings,including the Bridge (above), i.e. the journey

to become free from the effects of thereactive mind. Röhrig (mural in Malmoe,

below) and other artists, including PommHepner and Randy South (aka CarlRandolph), also contributed murals to

churches of Scientology around the world

The ARC Triangle



The ARC Triangle

! California Scientologist artist Barry Shereshevsky devoted severato the ARC triangle (above)

S i t l i St



Scientology in Stone

! California sculptor D. Yoshikawa Wright moved «from Western to more Easternrediscovering his roots (Vedic Hymn, left), and finally found in Scientology somsays, that «merges East and West» (Space and Beingness, center). About his S

Waterfalls (right), he comments that the stone represents the thetan, the watuniverse as motion, and their relationship the rhythm, the dance of life



Flag Building Sculptures

! 62 sculptures in the Grand AtriumFlag Building in Clearwater, Florid

in 2013, illustrates the fundamentScientology. The fact that these c

to be explained to the artists, nonScientologist, is significant. Artists

Scientologists normally are inspireScientology in their work, but pre«preach» or illustrate it explicitly

2. Art as Communication



! Artists who went through Scientology’s Art course all insisted on art as comWinnipeg-born New York abstract artist Beatrice Findlay (Figure in Four Squ

told me that «art is communication, why the heck would you do it otherwisinsisted that Hubbard «never said abstract art communicated less» and ha

appreciation of music, a form of abstract communication par excellence

From Reproduction to Creation



From Reproduction to Creation

! Pomm Hepner is both a professional artist and a senior technical supervisor atchurch in Pasadena, as well as a leader in Artists for Human Rights, an advocstarted by Scientologists. As Scientology taught her «on the spiritual world», shsays, from «pretty things» (Lavender Cottage, left) to «vibrations» (Emotions, rigmoment that exists to a moment I create… I can bring beauty to the world anneed to depend on the world bringing beauty to me». By adopting the point thetan, she «reversed» the relationship between the artist and the physical un



3. Suppression

!

There is a difference between howScientologist artists were discriminated

in Europe and some mild hostility theirbeliefs received occasionally in the

U.S. However, they all stated in theinterviews that modern society is often

disturbed by artists and tries to

suppress them, singling out psychiatryas a main culprit. The Trick Cyclist by

Randy South (right) depicts well-known

psychiatrists and «was created to drawattention to the evil practice of

psychiatry»

Violated Children



Violated Children

! All artists I interviewed sha

appreciation of Helnweinthey may be very far awahis art and his persona. So

the theme of suffering chiobvious Helnweinian unde

youngest child of L. Ron H

Arthur Conway Hubbard (2002, left: the blood is the

became himself a painter

studied under Helnwein, aalso produced works in a

style



Pollution

! Pollution as a form of gsuppression and Scient

mission to put an end talso mentioned in the i

Ecological disasters aretheme for Röhrig (Rainf

Destruction, left)



Endangered Edens

! Landscapes and cultures in developing countries

are also in danger of being suppressed. This is amain theme in the work of Swiss Scientologist artist

Claude Sandoz (Tropical Eden, below), whospends part of his time in the Caribbeans.Exhibitions of Sandoz’s works took place in differentSwiss museums

4 C i l t l



4. «Commercial Art» Re-Evalu

! Some of those who took Scientology’s Artcourse were «commercial» artists. The

course told them that this is not a shameand hailed success as healthy. «I do not

believe in starving artists», says BarryShereshevsky (right). They believe that the

boundary between commercial and fine

art is not clear-cut. Some of them wereencouraged to also engage in fine arts



«Commercial» Art as Communica

! Veteran Scientologist artist Peter Greenunderstood through Scientology that

commercial artists are not «coin-operated artists» but have their own way

of communicating and presenting amessage. Green manifested this

approach in his iconic posters, such asthe one of Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970)

Comics and Cards



Comics and Cards

! Green also contributed to Warren horror comics magazines (left), and keesuccessful «Politicards», i.e. trading and playing cards with politicians. He in«paint to live and remain sane. And in the end you may live to paint too»



Advert

! Randy South (left)

even when workin

advertising, artists the physical unive

overwhelming spir«vice versa». He a

«Hubbard said thaI want to play the fun»

5 Popular Esotericism



5. Popular Esotericism

!

Some (but not all) Scientologist ainterest in popular esoteric disco

Hepner , was exposed to Anthropstudying at a Steiner school. Röh

Tarots as well as the Zodiac (Virgexplains he doesn’t believe in th

astrology or Tarot – «they are effe

Scientologist you try to be cause

provide a widely shared languagvery good tool to communicate



6. A New Perception

! «We were one hundredthe same [Scientology

Suddenly, the room toobeautiful characteristic

became magical. I beThe room did not chan

perceived it changed»

Rivera, Mexican Scient

Image: Diaz-Rivera’s contributionDialogue on Death at the Dioce

Gubbio, Italy, 2015. All the wordsby L. Ron Hubbard

The Static Experience



The Static Experience

! Several artists reported howexperience, which in Scien

language means realizing yas thetan, completely chan

they perceive the world. Thabout duplicating what yo

Perception is communicatiYoshikawa Wright, left)

Spirituality and the Mirrors



Spirituality and the Mirrors

! Diaz-Rivera struggled to recaptureand express this perception of

herself as a thetan. She triedphotographing in different

locations, including Rome and LosAngeles (right), and using mirrors.

«The spiritual part, she says,

emerges through the mirrors»

In conclusion



In conclusion

! Scientology offers to artists a number of suaimed at «putting them back in the driver

Green) of their lives, exposing the myth of

dysfunctional, starving artist

! Scientology also creates and cultivates a

artists, and does more than offering practinteriorizing the gnostic narrative of the the

learn to perceive the physical universe in away. Then, they try to share this perceptio

communication, with a variety of different

and styles, inviting the audience to enhanwith further meanings

Image: Yoshikawa Wright, Infinity Column

Thank you for your attention



Massimo Introvigne and Carl Röhrig in the artist’s studio in Dottikon, Switzerland, O

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