Bangkok-based British artist Justin Mills tells us about God as Lady Gaga, one of his many interpretations of God currently on display at the joint exhibition The Brief View of Everything.

Technique & medium: Rubber-modified bitumen, acrylic and gold paint on canvas.

Can you tell us about your contribution to this exhibition? It’s a collection of 48 portraits of God—all painted on one-square meter canvases.

Why did you choose to touch on the subject of God? When the word “God” is used in the titles of my paintings it does not refer to the orthodox Christian notion of an external, all-powerful, judgmental being. It refers more to something beyond good and evil, something internal and external, both transcendent and imminent, a ground of all beings. Perhaps God is everything and everything is God and I am attempting to make this possibility more real in my paintings. This non-duality is the intrinsic, underlying unity of all things in the art of all the great religions. I am now trying to reveal this in a new form of post-post-modern art, or integral art.

Were you trying to be controversial? Yes. Painting has to compete with so much these days to get people’s attention. A little controversy helps.

Why Lady Gaga? She is God as a God/Goddess and she gets a lot of attention.

What’s next for you? The next series I am working on is 108 Portraits Of God which is part of the ongoing series 10,000 Portraits Of God which will keep me busy for the rest of my life.

See God as Lady Gaga at A Brief View of Everything exhibition

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