I love this print - it's actually a painting. The artist was displaying his work this weekend at the Cherry Creek Arts Festival. I'd love to have this hanging in my room or over my desk. It's just... refreshing. I miss the water. Deb leaves tomorrow for
How do you suppose God sees the creative arts? The scriptures don't give us a whole lot to go on. Or do they? God did commission a lot of intricate handiwork for his tabernacle. Sounds like heaven is a pretty arty place too. The Bible is quite big on singing and making music to God, and chock full of poetry and stories. There's a lot in the scriptures about beauty. Clearly it's something God appreciates! Like everything else, arts and artists bear the fingerprints of God.
Yet the signs of the fall seem so apparent in some of what I saw this weekend. I thought, "that looks kind of evil..." and wanted to turn away. Bad art, I thought. Maybe not technically bad, but morally bad. Or so it seemed. To me.
Is art always, never - or just sometimes - morally neutral? Does it depend on the intent of the artist? The heart and mind - and eye - of the beholder? Or some combination of those? Is there some kind of objective measure, or perhaps some guiding principles, that would mark art as immoral?
Maybe that has to do with its effect on us. For example, the human body is beautiful, but pornography stirs up lust and encourages us to go against what we know to be good and true; in some situations the boundaries may be unclear. (One of my friends, home-schooling her young sons in art appreciation, used markers to clothe some of the nudes. Probably better than not teaching the class.)
Art isn't always about beauty, nor need it be. It's not all Thomas Kinkade (no offense; we have this one in our living room!) Art that is violent or disturbing may stir us up against injustice, or tyranny: Surely that is good.
Much art defies analysis - or even if it doesn't, it still tends to go to the emotions first. One of the early Greek philosophers argued for the suppression of certain kinds of music for this reason. It does seem presumptuous, doesn't it, not to ask permission from the mind before stirring the guts? But others might say that's the best thing about art, or music. Might we harness that power?
Followers of the Creator God have sometimes rejoiced in being creators too, fostering and enjoying the arts. Yet just as often they have picked up the scent of evil in art, or music, or literature, and tried to squelch it, and especially to keep it from their children.
If Jesus were walking through the arts festival with me, I wonder when he would sigh with pleasure, or cheer for truth and insight, and when he would turn away? Or would he turn away? I suppose he would never turn away from the artist even if he did not think much of the art!
What do you think?
(I Googled "What does the Bible say about art?" and found this article.)
6 comments:
Ah, if I had 3 hours, I could write an essay on art & how spiritual it is or isn't.
As my degree in art taught me, art can be total BS. I remember a master's degree student who spent his two years making balsa-wood kayaks that had outer skins made of fishing line! He convinced some professor to let him make a degree out of it.
Thomas Kinkade - I will not comment.
All good art glorifies God, whether the artist is a Christian or not. That much I know.
What Mssr Merrill said...
dm
Last night brooklyn said she wanted to pray about her art. (she has some of her artwork hanging above her bed). Brent told her, "you can't pray for art". To which she replied, "mommy prays for art." He looked at me crosseyed. I clarified, "I pray that she will always be able to express herself through art, that she'll see God in art, and that it'll be something that brings her enjoyment" Another eyeroll from dear hubby but given the fact that brooklyn was listening, he was forced to "pray for art".
Thanks for your comments!
Yeah, Paul, there is a lot of what seems 'bad art' out there, technically I mean this time, not morally! Yet artists (like the rest of us) can take themselves so seriously... ah, human condition!
Courtney, I can totally picture Brent rolling his eyes and 'praying for art'!
we once got a letter from a fan who said seeing dale's work was like "touching the hand of god." while i suppose god works in mysterious ways, i handed dale some tylenol the other day and i did not feel a thing.
I suppose any great / unusual achievement can cause one to mistake oneself - or someone else - for a god! Around the house I'm sure every great artist has his grumpy days. Or mentally unstable ones in D's case. I forgot to mention that while I was at the Art Festival I also ducked into "Pismo," the glass gallery. (http://pismoglass.com). I knew they carried some of his work, Meg, but was somewhat surprised to see how much. Some of the paintings went for less than $3000, but at least one of the larger Chihuly installations was in the $40,000 range. I could live on that.... for a long time!
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