December 11, 2009. For installation artist and sculpture John David Mooney his first trip to Rome in more than a decade has included a meeting of sorts. From this lecture with university students to the meeting with artists and the Pope under Michelangelo’s frescoes in the Sistine Chapel.
The American artists, was part of the meeting with artists Pope Benedict XVI held in an effort to rekindle the relationship between faith and art.
John David Mooney
Installation Artist & Sculptor
“This may truly begin a new renaissance all the architects artists assembled composers all of them were excited.”
But it wasn’t the first time Mooney met with a Pope. Mooney was an artist-in-residence during the Second Vatican Council. He worked under Pope Paul VI who held a similar encounter with artists 45 years ago.
John David Mooney
Installation Artist & Sculptor
“Paul VI continuously reached out to the artists, to all of them in fact he invited me to a private Christmas audience it was really special after the council closed.”
It was during that private audience that Paul VI blessed Mooney’s hands. In the years that followed his hands have crafted works of art from a sculpture installation at the Vatican Observatory at Castel Gandolfo to his Millennium sculpture in Malta and the rooftops of buildings in Los Angeles.
Mooney says he’s inspired by science and astronomy.
His work is always grand and always public.
ohn David Mooney
Installation Artist & Sculptor
“That’s the main thing to let people experience art without having to go into a museum and pay 2.50 or 5 euros to see art that’s a tax and people shouldn’t be taxed to see art it should be accessible.”
And reflect today’s culture. A culture he hopes will continue moving towards bridging the gap between the art world and the spiritual world.
MC
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