Antonio loved Hinduism. He created many sculptures and paintings based in and on Hindu mythology. Here is his rendition of Siva and Parvati. It is an environment about 18" high. The profundity of Antonio's work is his deep grounding in western classicism and his direct, original take on the 'East'. His work is truly the synthesis of east and west.
He actually studied Hinduism with Swami Brahmananda in NYC at one point, guru brother to Swami Vivekananda. They were disciples of Sri Ramakrishna.
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His half lifesize sculpture of Swami Brahmananda |
Antonio ended up practicing zen and sat zazen 2 hours daily from the age of 59. Just sitting and watching his breath. He loved all religions and expressed many of them in his work, but like I said he did many paintings and sculptures of Hindu deities, translating them into an original classical idiom that was a synthesis of East and West.