His moody works incorporating religious iconography and Latin passages from the Bible have been compared to those from the 12th to 16th centuries.

In 2003, he undertook the exhausting challenge of completing 31 drawings in 31 consecutive days, a feat later documented in a book featuring the illustrations.

Tucson artist Daniel Martin Diaz Strangers have his art tattooed on their arms, backs and other body parts.

His creations have been exhibited in major U.S. cities, Latin America and Europe.

He designs CD cover art, including one that Christian bookstores banned.

He plays bass, keyboards and guitar for local band Blind Divine.

He and his wife compose scores for movies.

His solo exhibition, "Mystery of Faith," opens today at the Arizona State Museum.

Part of that show is devoted to the Catholic ritual of exorcism.

Many Christian bookstores banned P.O.D. CDs featuring Diaz's cover art in 2003. So much intrigue. So much talent. Now if only Diaz would talk a little more about his art.

Getting the reticent artist to expound on the theme of his exhibit is no easy task. "Mystery of Faith, it's pretty self-explanatory," the affable Diaz answers without a hint of contempt in his voice.

Like many in his profession, the 38-year-old Tucson native doesn't like to discuss the meaning and nature of his art. He leaves that to art critics, journalists and scholars.

"Everybody has their own interpretation. People are gonna think what they're gonna think.

... I don't have any definition for it. I don't know where it's coming from. It is what it is," says the Sunnyside High grad during an interview in his Southeast Side home. "I don't want to try to psychoanalyze or analyze it because I think if I do, the magic of the art itself will be lost."

The most common words used to describe his art are "dark," "brooding," "intense" and "archaic." Made of oil on wood, graphite and linoleum, his pieces are reminiscent of old world European religious paintings. They are heavily influenced by his Catholic faith and interest in ephemera, alchemy, architecture, palmistry, astrology, anatomy, numerology and nature.

Diaz examines exorcism through hand-printed linoleum carvings. His home is adorned with his artwork, including a nearly 3-foot-high wood carving and painting of the sacred heart. Images of Christ are common in his works, but they're not the ones seen in traditional representations. One drawing shows Christ with missing limbs, another depicts him as a fetus.

Sacrilegious? The work of the occult?

Some view Diaz's art that way. In 2003, about 85 percent of Christian bookstores in the U.S. banned a CD by Christian rock band P.O.D. because they objected to the cover art designed by Diaz. The image shows a nude woman with butterfly wings, arms crossed over her chest, legs bound, wearing a sash around her pelvis that reads "Sanctus," Latin for the sung preface in a Mass. Bookstore owners deemed the art offensive because they contend it shows the woman's pubic bone and uses a sacred word in a sexual way.

Diaz is dumbfounded by these claims and says that as a devout Catholic, he has a deep respect for religion.

He told Australia's Undercover.com.au, "It's quite ironic that throughout my art career, I have been censored by a reputable art publication and denied inclusion into art exhibitions because my work is too religious. Now my work is being censored by religious outlets. Some folks need to enlighten themselves with art history."

Most of Diaz’s works are flush with religious imagery and Latin biblical passages. One who sees his religious imagery in a positive light is "Mystery of Faith" curator Martin Kim, who says Diaz has repositioned himself in a role that was common for artists in earlier European culture: the artist as shaman.

"I feel his role is really shamanistic in the sense that he is drawing on his extensive knowledge of the icons that had very rich meanings when knowledge was passed on more through oral tradition. Painting was introduced as a way to pass that knowledge on to people who were not educated and who could not read or write," Kim says. "He's revisited that in an effort to tell stories and bring attention to icons and images that he feels are an important part of his background."

A drawing by Diaz depicts Christ as a fetus. One story Diaz will tell in his exhibit is that of exorcism. A set of three hand-printed linoleum carvings examine the practice, which is explained in an accompanying essay by theologian John David Long-Garcia.

"I don't want to do it as a novelty. I want to show that this is a serious thing," Diaz says.

The exhibit also will feature the illustrations Diaz completed during his project "Thirty-One Drawings, Thirty-One Days." In January and February of 2003, Diaz took on the challenge of creating 31 drawings in 31 days. He came down with the flu near the end of the period but willed himself to continue. The results of his effort were made into a book, which will be sold at ASM.

One of the most striking qualities of Diaz's works, Kim says, is that they convey a sense of integrity.

"Most contemporary American art tends to be about 90 percent about the artist and their creativity and maybe 10 percent about their culture," he says. "When you look at Daniel Martin Diaz's paintings, you are reminded of a period in which art was more like 90 percent about the culture and maybe 10 percent about the artist and their creativity."

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