John Nava, a realist painter, spoke at a lecture on Jan. 31 at the Atkinson Gallery, revealing his most recent pieces, including his views on American politics.

Dane Goodman, director of the Atkinson Gallery opened the lecture with background information on the artist. Goodman added Nava is “internationally known,” having been an artist shown in the United States and Japan.

With speckled grey hair and reading glasses hanging from his neck, Nava discussed his latest art exhibit, shedding light on his inspiration for the new pieces, such as politics and worldly issues.

Nava added the United States has become a modern day tyranny.

“We’re the new Germany,” Nava said.

Nava explained German citizens knew innocent people were being tortured and despite this knowledge, did nothing to remedy the injustice.

Nava displayed slides of his work at the lecture to give a visual of his representation of this generation’s teenagers.

The teens chosen for the exhibition, wear shirts with political statements, revealing Nava’s opinion of President Bush’s actions.

The shirts read statements like, “America Tortures” and “Who Would Jesus Bomb?”

“I try to only do things that interest me, and I just can’t be interested in everything,” Nava said.

“I really love his work,” said student Zoe Nathan. “He seems very intelligent.”

Nava graduated from Univeristy of California Santa BarbaraCSB in 1969 with a bachelor’s degree and then attended the Villa Schifanoia Graduate School of Fine Arts in Florence, Italy where he graduated with a master’s in fine arts in 1973.

Nava began teaching at University of Redlands where he worked on his artistic abilities.

He quit teaching in 1987 and later attended a Caravaggio show in Italy.

“We were knocked out by Caravaggio,” Nava exclaimed enthusiastically.

Nava painted a representation of the Los Angeles Riots, capturing pain and agony, influenced by the style of Caravaggio’s work.

Several of Nava’s more renowned artwork hang in the Cathedral of Our Lady in L.A., such as “Study for a Baptism,” a painting portraying the baptism of Jesus Christ.