A priest and an artist walk into a bar

… and they can’t keep their hands off each other. That’s the premise at the centre of Brandon Taylor’s latest novel, Minor Black Figures. It’s about a painter named Wyeth who’s struggling to find his voice in New York’s politically charged art scene. It only gets messier when Wyeth has the perfect meet-cute at a bar … and starts falling for someone who has already devoted himself to God. Brandon joins Mattea to talk about his Alabama roots, grappling with a crisis in faith and the impossible question of who we make art for.Liked this conversation? Keep listening:Zadie Smith never thought she’d tell this storyRumaan Alam: How would you spend a billion dollars?