This book has been ten years in the making. It is inspired by Saint John Paul's 'Man and Woman He Created Them. A Theology of the Body'. It is also about the questions within the title of Gauguin's painting called 'Where Do We Come From?' 'What Are We?' 'Where Are We Going?'. We still need to ask these questions in a materialistic and scientific world that seems trapped in space. Whilst reading Theology of the Body, I realised the paintings I had produced over the years were the ideal accompaniment to the anthropology within Saint John Paul's work, especially the aspects of mystical and poetic theology. Crucial to this project was working with my good friend Heather Macdonald, whose encouragement and skills as a graphic designer resulted in helping to give the book its visual beauty. Purchase a copy of this book from Amazon now.
'The Cosmic Madonna' is a recent work in memory of Canon Reginald Fuller, a noted Biblical scholar who died in 2011 at the age of 102. I had become acquainted with him around 1989 when he mooted in the Catholic press the idea of a shrine to the 'Unborn Christ'. At that time, he was retired and assisting in Saint Mellitus parish at Tollington Park. Whilst there, he was attacked by a burglar and hit over the head with a brass crucifix. Thankfully he recovered in hospital. Up until then, he had decided that one of my paintings, 'Mary Mother of God', would be ideal for the shrine but had been unsuccessful in finding a church to commission it. The late Jerry Nolan, a London Irish poet took up the search for a church to host the shrine and did get some serious interest from one church. Sadly, they backed off due to concerns about objections from women's rights activists. Jerry Nolan went on to publish a poetry book (Cat of the Inner Cities) which included a poem ...