Comments on: Click

By: Winston

Winston — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 23:51:59 +0000

@Zach I completely agree with what you say about hopeful vs dark art. Part of all my contemplation on this subject is that I'm trying to understand the place of art in life; and no answer is philosophically satisfying if it cannot give place to "hopeful" bright art, depressing dark art, childs art and creations of the masters. Thanks for the thoughts. @Paul I've gone back and forth since you posted your comment about whether or not I think that question you pose impacts my line of thinking. The fall created a lot of things; our fallen nature, our need for redemption, our inability to easily commune with God. Could it be that our need to create was borne out of that? Or is it, as you say, something more innate? Good questions. @Naomi I think a further addition to your thought is that the best dark art has in it this sense that there is, at the very least, a need for redemption, if not a knowledge that redemption exists. In other words, those who dwell in the tragic aspects of life can (though not necessarily) be drawing attention to the need for redemption rather than simply being nihilistic in purpose. @Brad Blackman I have no solutions yet either, but I'm glad to know there are others struggling through with "oppressive" or at least non-constructive pasts to find out what is worth pursuing!

By: Brad Blackman

Brad Blackman — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 04:13:49 +0000

This is something I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about, although I haven’t really come to any sort of conclusion (and may never fully do so.) I do think there’s a place for art as a Christian, but I suppose is that personally I haven’t seen Christians to be as receptive of the arts as non-Christians. It could just be the conservative environment I’ve grown up in.

Thanks for getting me thinking!!

By: Naomi

Naomi — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:45:43 +0000

I really like this, Winston. Something I have been thinking about lately is the Hegelian idea of all things being in flux between thesis and antithesis until they settle at a synthesis. Hegel’s ideas about art are fascinating, because he believes art is the embodiment of a synthesis between two opposing conceptions of reality/ emotional poles/ perspectives of beauty.

There’s plenty to be hashed out there, just as there is in your thoughts of the other night. But “dark art” that comes from an artist’s desire to add some small redemption to the world might in some way be a synthesis of those traditionally opposite ideas: redemption and darkness. I haven’t really thought these things out much yet, but they have been on my mind. Anyway, I thought you might get some ideas from it. :)

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:16:53 +0000

Good thoughts. I wonder about the idea of art’s purpose being to “remind us that there is goodness, truth, and real beauty to be obtained.”

In a world where goodness, truth, and beauty are actually fully present realities, would art exist? In other words, what if we didn’t need the reminder?

I guess another way to ask it would be in a world without the Fall, what would art have been for? Or, in the world to come, what will art be for?

I’m sure that I don’t have full answers to that question. I wonder if it is tied to us bearing Image, having been given Reason and Emotion and the call to exercise dominion and to shape. But with what purpose in mind?

So though I agree completely that in the world we find ourselves, between Fall and Restoration, that art serves as a reminder of powerful realities, as hints at what we’ve lost and what is to come. I simply wonder if there’s a more primal, subtle purpose that actually precedes and follows that more temporal purpose.

By: Zach

Zach — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:15:41 +0000

I love what you wrote. As a musician, it’s an inspiration and encouragement to believe that my art can further the Kingdom. One aspect you didn’t mention is hopeful art. Not blatant worship (though there is a place and a need for that, I believe) – but art that points toward God and the Kingdom as the solution to the broken world. As a creator, I find this idea very desirable and yet often elusive. I know how to describe the broken world, and I know how to worship God in music. But I want to be able to point toward truth and the Kingdom in a hopeful way. I want to do this in a way that is ‘seeker sensitive’ (I hate that terminology), but I also don’t want to water it down or simply avoid Christian buzzwords. I strive continually to create true art that will resonate with those who hear it, and I believe that there is a place for focusing on the human struggle, and also a place for coming to the end of ourselves and saying that the solution to the struggle is outside of ourselves. I believe that ‘hopeful’ art is just as honest as ‘dark’ art – and that the two together paint a beautiful portrait of what it means to live in this world, to struggle, and yet to believe in the goodness of God above all else.

Thanks for challenging me, and provoking me to think about what I create and why I create. Your comments are right on, it just got me thinking, and hopeful art is something that I feel like I am aware of and strive to create.

All this may have been what you were getting at when you said that art can be redeeming, and I am going close my mouth and dwell on what that means. Thanks for reading my stream of consciousness…