Historically the artist/muse relationship is an active/passive dynamic (usually gendered) and muses aren't given credit as much as they are deemed 'blessed' in some way, either by god or by the artist. The model for this piece is Matthew Avedon, who is accustomed to being looked at but still has this shyness about his beauty that I found Christlike.  I was thinking about the other “reclining” Christs- like the gruesome Holbein or the Manet at the Met where he’s sort of propped up by angels... but he’s dead as a doornail in those.  But a sexy (living) Christ in repose I thought was funny...and what if Jesus actually had a genetic mutation that made him glow in the dark and that was why he was so good at catching fish- that it was actually evolution and not god responsible for that miracle?  I wasn’t raised particularly religious, but I think we really underestimate how much these stories (the Bible, ancient mythology, fairytales and fables etc) shape  our understanding of the world.  I think it’s really the job of the artist to poke holes in these stories, to make fun of them and even undermine them to make room for new ways of seeing.