Mark Thomas Gibson gathered news images and political cartoons, emulating the long tradition of political satire and dissent. Hooded Klansmen and rioters wielding the Confederate flag quickly communicate the hallucinatory energy of 2021 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the January 6 U.S. Capitol attack, and the presidential inauguration two weeks later. These inflammatory symbols, aligned with white supremacy and campaigns of racial terror, appear front and center, a lightning rod for attention. For this work, Gibson mined an 1888 painting by Belgian artist James Ensor (1860–1949). Also a response to social unrest, Ensor’s painting caricatured the power brokers of his day as masked frauds and clowns. By updating these densely packed references for contemporary viewers, Gibson invites us to slow down and contemplate their historical implications.