Meet Australia-based Artist David Kruse
David Kruse is an oil painter, musician, and leatherworker who divides his time between Australia and the US. He released his debut album, Just Listen!, in 2022. He’s also the founder and CEO of OréMoose Industries, which makes Catholic leather goods. You can find out more about David on Instagram.
CATHOLIC ARTIST CONNECTION: Where are you from originally, and what brought you to your current city?
DAVID KRUSE: I'm from Mankato, Minnesota. I have moved all over in the last 10 years, but I most recently moved to Australia to date and marry my wife, who is from South Australia. We currently reside here, but travel between Australia and USA somewhat regularly. We are planning to move back to the USA permanently in 2024 after the birth of our first child.
How do understand your vocation as a Catholic artist?
My vocation as an artist is a vocation to beauty; but not beauty in the physical, purely aesthetic sense... but beauty in the fullest sense; beauty that is inseparable from the truth, and therefore the cross of Jesus. This kind of beauty is not merely proportions and provocative colors. It is deep, and includes all the dark colors and abrasive textures as well as the brights and the smooths. It's the beauty of martyrdom, the beauty of the cross, the beauty of the body and blood shed for humanity. As Catholic artists, we are called to be Christ's signature on the world. We are called to communicate the depth of the Kingdom of God through the symbolism that only art can communicate. We are theologians of the senses, not only called to understanding the teachings and proper wording of theological dogma, but to communicating it through image, symbol, sound, color, texture, emotion and every other profound trait that art utilizes.
G.K. Chesterton says that "Art is the signature of man." I think that Catholic art is the signature of redeemed man.
Redeemed man is free, fully alive, and abounding in the infinite creativity that flows from God the Father. Our art ought to reflect that. I certainly call myself a Catholic artist, but it is precisely because I am a Catholic artist, that a painting of a bird or a mountain takes on a different meaning for anyone that has contemplated one of my religious paintings, and vice versa. The Catholicism in my artwork means that I not only paint the divine mysteries revealed to us in the Word of God, but also that I perceive the divine beauty revealed to us in creation, in suffering, and in culture.
Where have you found support in the Church for your vocation as an artist?
More than anyone else, I have found support from my wife. She appreciates and understands, not only the need for good art, but also the relationship between good art and a healthy Church. She is a lovely spouse, but she is an exceptional Catholic as well. Her witness to me has completely transformed my creative work.
Additionally, good friends, priests, and religious that I know personally have been incredibly supportive. But probably the singular most supportive element of the Church that I have found yet is simply the Church's history. The history of the Church is so incredibly dense with unbelievably stunning artwork. I cannot help but feel called to the most excellent production of artwork when I gaze upon the artwork of any century preceding ours.
Where have you found support among your fellow artists for your Catholic faith?
Not in the secular world! Being in the secular world and being a Catholic artist is like being in a nursing home and having the flu. If you don't bring it up, you feel it. If you do bring it up, people flee.
That being said, amidst the secular world, there are "closet" Christians everywhere. In especially secular industries like the entertainment industry, they are hiding out. When found, it's as if two spies have discovered each other in enemy territory. Fear and joy are abounding.
Good, Catholic, creative friends are irreplaceable. What they keep shining in this shadowy world is the light of life in the dark of night.
How can the Church be more welcoming to artists?
The Church needs to begin having a conversation about the actual role of art. As of now there is no guidance, no direction, no addressing the magnitude of influence that art has on our hearts, minds, souls, and children.
Firstly, even before we have a conversation about the role of art in evangelization, the Church needs to have a conversation about how we have already be "evangelized" through art in our culture. What is the 'good news' of Jay-Z? What influence did Madonna have on the generation that attended her concerts? What has television, computer screens, cell-phones, graphic design, AI generated "paintings" done for or against the human soul?
These are complicated questions... but so is the theology of the trinity. The Church spent centuries refining proper language and teaching around that dogma. It is crucial that the Church nowadays begin having the long overdue conversation around artwork and what it does, what it has done, and what it can and will do in the future.
How have you found or built community as a Catholic artist in your city?
We own a Catholic Record Label called Enemy Love Records. We have traveled around Australasia doing retreats for musicians, and we host a Bible study for artists as well as healing ministry studies at our home. We regularly connect with artists around the world to discuss what it means to be Catholic creatives, and we are constantly extending that conversation to broader and broader reaches. These are our main forms of art community, and we hope to continue to build that community wherever we live.
What is your daily artistic practice?
Contemplation. Contemplation is stepping into the Father's state of mind as he gazed upon creation and "saw that it was good."
When we have this capacity to contemplate, to gaze upon things with love, as God does, we have no shortage of creativity and drive for practicing our craft. Often people think that being an artist needs to be the grindstone. We tend to think of art (and life) as needing to be something we muscle our way through. It doesn't need to be a discipline when God's grace is flowing through it. When it is truly life-giving, temperate and part of a life dedicated to God, practicing one's daily craft becomes as natural to us as breathing.
Children (without screens) demonstrate what it means to live in that freedom. When a child learns the basics of an instrument in it's early playful years, the instrument, in the child's mind, is simply a toy: something to play with. It's no different for adults. We simply need to recover the awe and wonder of a child; something we should never have lost anyway.