Artist and attorney Victor Hardy reveals the basis for much of his award-winning artwork.
Famed for his miniature painting masterpieces, largely centered around the world-famous wargame, Warhammer 40,000, award-winning artist and attorney Victor Hardy’s artwork takes inspiration from a variety of sources. Here, Hardy provides a personal insight into the primary basis for much of the iconography and imagery used in his work – Roman Catholicism.
“Although I use a variety of iconography in my art, much of what I do is inspired by Roman Catholic imagery,” reveals Hardy, an award-winning artist and attorney from Austin, Texas. Specializing in multimedia and online patent infringement litigation, due diligence, liquidation proceedings, and intellectual property law, lawyer Victor Hardy is, in his free time, also a highly talented and multi-award-winning artist.
A fan of the internationally renowned wargame Warhammer 40,000 for almost three decades, Victor Hardy’s passion for art largely stems from his interest in the game. “In turn, most of my artwork, inspired by Warhammer, is, in itself, inspired by—and largely based upon—Roman Catholic iconography,” he explains.
This, Hardy says, is no coincidence, however, as he believes that much of Warhammer 40,000 itself is inspired by the same Roman Catholic iconography and imagery which drives the majority of his own artwork. “Within Warhammer, there are undoubtedly many, many allegories of the historical Roman Catholic Church,” suggests the award-winning artist and attorney.
“Aspects of the game, I believe, are modeled on the historical Knights Templar, for example, that were connected to the church, and various Saints, very much in the Roman Catholic Church sense,” explains Victor. “There is, I further believe, as another example, also a direct historical allegory for a well-known German monk, priest, and seminal figure ordained to the priesthood in 1507,” he goes on to reveal.
Many of Warhammer 40,000’s characters are, Victor says, at least loosely modeled off of real religious icons. “I could narrow down the parallels all day long,” notes the artist. “For me, there’s no stronger influence on Warhammer imagery than that of the Roman Catholic Church,” he adds.
Much the same is true of Hardy’s own work. “My own work contains various pieces of imagery that are often slightly twisted versions of well-known Catholic iconography,” he reveals. “Within my artwork, I quite often depict various events, and clearly so, from the history of the Catholic Church,” adds the artist.
“In doing so, I like to think,” he suggests, wrapping up, “that my art is pushing the boundaries, via Roman Catholic iconography, of theme, imagery, technical proficiency, and more, all of which is extremely satisfying for me personally as an artist.”
