The Art of Religion

If you've been following my art, you already know the influence that Buddhism has played, particularly in my series of "Urban Mandalas". But I am also drawn to the art of Christianity. Perhaps it's my deep-seeded Catholic upbringing or maybe it was my LSD-fueled experience of "Christ Consciousness" (a story for another time).

Unfortunately, most Judeo-Christian art is focused on recreating the traditional rather than progressing themes through a modern lens. Nowadays, when you think of "religious art" you may picture gothic cathedrals, stained glass, or even kitschy cherub angel babies.

But just as the technology of the printing press revolutionized bible printing and flying buttresses reinvented church architecture, we can use new artistic mediums to shine a light on historical Christian themes.

Below are three series of artworks that attempt to do just that.

The Last Judgement employs Artificial Intelligence (AI) to reconstruct Michelangelo’s 1541 painting from the Sistine Chapel. These two digital artworks are intended to highlight questions surrounding AI from a religious perspective—is AI a force of good or evil?

The Shroud of Turin is a series of eight compositions based on the historical piece of linen bearing a faint impression of what many believe to be Jesus Christ. By creating a “digital paintbrush” encoded with an image of the Shroud, I reexamine the shroud as a sort of "spiritual photograph".

Halos, a series of three video artworks, utilize motion and sound, bringing to life to the concept of a halo—a crown of light surrounding the head of a Saint or enlightened person. The ambient sound emitted from each Halo is tuned to F-Sharp—the frequency of planet Earth according to the ancient theory of Musica Universalis.