Remember the guy in high school who drew obsessively in mechanical drawing class? Others doggedly copied the assigned schematic of a bolt, but that kid was intent on conjuring up demonic angels-Gothic and Catholic combinations of otherworldly creatures on his graph paper. Later he'd look at them with wonder as if they were dreams.

Now 40, that daydreamer is self-taught mystic artist Daniel Martin Diaz. His nationally known, shock-and-awe paintings are the subject of Mysterium Fidei (Mystery of Faith), recently published by La Luz De Jesus and Billy Shire Fine Arts Press. (Billy Shire Fine Arts gallery represents Diaz's work in Los Angeles.)

Silver embossed, clothbound in black, this first retrospective collection of Diaz's paintings and drawings in print includes three diverse essays by art historians illuminating Diaz's visually and emotionally complex work.

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