Many times, that's how people see Christian art or Christians making art: They see the art as having an agenda.
These gold chains and pendants I've been collecting from 1975. None of them are new and mostly - Hare Krishna Hare Rama, Ganpati, Satyanarayan, Hanuman - all god-related pendants.
My interest in art must have started with my Catholic upbringing. Art was everywhere: churches with its paintings, sculptures, stained glass, textiles, and fine metalwork.
Give honour unto Luke Evangelist; For he it was (the aged legends say) Who first taught Art to fold her hands and pray.
My icons do not raise up the blessed savior in elaborate cathedrals. They are constructed concentrations celebrating barren rooms. They bring a limited light.
All art began as sacred art, you know? I mean, all painting began as religious painting. All writing began as religious writing.
The best argument for Christianity is the Gregorian chant. Listening to that music, one can believe anything -- while the music lasts.
In a secularising world, art has replaced religion as a touchstone of our reverence and devotion.
My only objective is to paint a Christ so moving that those who see him will be converted.
When one looks into the window of a store which sells devotional art objects, one can't help wishing the iconoclasts had won.
In my 20s, as I began to travel in Europe, I found comfort in religious paintings. Even though my own belief in Catholic dogma had been shaken and weakened, I found that the beauty and the richness of the art still held me.
I draw inspiration from my life, and, honestly, a lot of my religious beliefs have stemmed into my music.
Most ecclesiastical relics are fixed in time at the moment of their manufacture. That is why they are offered for veneration in casings that resemble pocket watches. They have lost their claim to mystery because they are so clearly the products of time.
