Dear Agostino Arrivabene,
I hope this letter finds you well. I just wanted to express my admiration for your work as an artist and to discuss with you the importance of sainthood in Western culture.
As an artist, you have always been one of my role models, and I have always been drawn to the way you depict holiness in your paintings. The way you capture the divine in the mundane is truly inspiring, and it speaks to the enduring power of sainthood in our culture.
I was also wondering if you could speak to the influence of Russian iconography on your work. I am particularly fascinated by the way that Russian painters such as Andrei Rublev and Dionisius captured the divine in their paintings, and I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
Who were your rolemodels when it comes to painting?
The use of ochreous, or ocher, pigments in art and religious practices has a long and varied history. In many ancient cultures, ocher was believed to have spiritual and medicinal properties, and it was often used in rituals and as a component of religious art and iconography.
In the Old Testament, ocher is mentioned as a component of the incense used in Jewish temple practices. In the New Testament, the use of ocher is referenced in the story of the prodigal son, where the son is said to have “wasted his substance with riotous living.”
Ocher has also played a significant role in the art and religion of many indigenous cultures around the world. For example, in Aboriginal Australian culture, ocher is used in body painting and ceremonial practices, and is believed to have spiritual and medicinal properties.
Overall, the use of ocher in religious contexts has often been associated with notions of the divine, spiritual power, and the sacred. It has been used to mark important moments in religious rituals and to invoke a sense of the otherworldly.
Your work often does that, but you use gold in an unusual fashion.
Let me please take a moment to thank you for gifting this world with your incredible artworks, and
I think your name translates in English to : he who arrives well.
I think that is what we should all aspire to: to arrive well, in this world or another.
