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Be neither saint nor sophist led,
but be a man." -Matthew Arnold Summarizing the Ten Commandments: Jesus summarized the Law of God as "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: "'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:37-40). All the Law of God points to our vertical relationship with God and our horizontal relationship with our neighbors. Christ tells us that His agape Love defines our existence and relationships; He himself lived out the Law, perfectly fulfilling them in his life, death and resurrection. Therefore, all Laws of God point to Christ, but with a grace orientation. The ten Commandments begin with "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery" (Exodus 20:2). The Lawgiver identifies Himself as the one who brought the Israelites out from the "land of slavery," His grace-act precedes the law, and the law is an element of a covenant, an agreement based on a relationship established by grace. For artists, this grace perspective frees the artist to see the gift of expression and sensibility as coming from the Creator rather than by chance or from the self. St. Augustine defined this dichotomy as two cities resulting from two types of loves: "What we see, then, is that two societies have issued from two kinds of
love. Worldly society has flowered from a selfish love which dared to
despise even God, whereas the communion of saints is rooted in a love
of God that is ready to trample on self. In a word, this latter relies
on the Lord, whereas the other boasts that it can get along by itself.
The city of man seeks the praise of men, whereas the height of glory for
the other is to hear God in the witness of conscience. The one lifts up
its head in its own boasting; the other says to God: 'Thou art my glory,
thou liftest up my head.'" (3) I remember, a few years before my conversion, telling a friend of mine that "artists are trying to define God; art is their expression of God." I was right in a limited sense; in the perspective of post-modernism, we attempt to define our own identities and therefore God. But I had a wrong theology then: you cannot define an infinite, absolute God. In fact, this is the point of the first three commandments--that our attempt to define God, rather than being defined by God are futile and dangerous. Commandment #1--You shall have no other gods before me. The gospel proclaims the exclusivity of God. In order for something or someone to be absolute that means, by definition, that something or someone has no competition. As soon as we start to define God on our own terms we are violating this commandment. Art needs to be an expression of how God defines us rather than an expression through which we define God. We must seek and express our identity in Christ, rather than expressing our identity in ourselves, or what the world tells us (or even what we tell ourselves). Accountability with our brothers and sisters through the local church is vital in understanding what our identity and calling is. Ultimately, our gifts belong to God and Him alone. "All my works," Picasso said "are self-portraits." Picasso was right. He painted himself all the time; but his god was himself. All art portrays the god whom the artist serves. In this sense, all art is "representational": it represents, again, the God or god whom the artist serves. Art reaches to both heaven and earth, fusing them together. If we attempt to do this in our wisdom, the result will be a greater schism between heaven and earth. Christ is the ultimate example of this fusing: the incarnation of Christ, the divine becoming a man, therefore, is the greatest example in which all artists can find inspiration. Christ's unique significance for the artist goes even deeper than mere inspiration. I believe that He is the only true source of inspiration available to us to learn from. Christ's incarnation resolves the most difficult dichotomy that exists for an artist; that is the dichotomy of form and content. The Japanese poet Kinotsurayuki in 10th century wrote on this dichotomy in his poem, "Ka-jitus-so-ken" which can be literally translated "flower-form-mirroring-jointing." He meant by this that we must strive to fuse form and content together so well that the form (words) becomes the content (flower). Ben Shahn brought this concept home to the 20th century when he stated, "I think that it can be said with certainty that the form which does emerge cannot be greater than the content which went into it. For form is only the manifestation, the shape of content."(4) Francis Schaeffer echoed this aesthetic perspective when he said, "For those art works which are truly great, there is a correlation between the style and the content." (5) Christ's uniqueness lies in not just the content (divinity) but also in the form (humanity). He was the form of all forms, the content of all contents. This uniqueness gives an artist fundamental motivation and reason to pursue the daunting task of bringing form and content together. The first commandment tells the artist there is only one source, one content from which all other contents derive. And the "manifestation, the shape of content" is Christ himself. All art owes the unique figure of Christ a tribute; without him, we simply do not have any model to fully meet the challenge posed by aestheticians of the ages past. Conversely, this unique perspective creates an opportunity for us to depict and exegete evil in the light of grace and the light of Christ. Evil needs to be portrayed in a way that is true about evil. It takes artistic vision and grace-oriented imagination to depict hell. Eric Fischl, in the recent Art in America interview stated: "Artists connected to the church were asked to imagine four things: what heaven was like, what hell was like and what the Garden was like before and after the Fall. Those are four profound archetypes and they're part of many cultures. What has happened over the centuries is that artists in the West have become specialized. You still can find heaven painters, hell painters, and Garden painters, but you rarely find them in the same person."(6) Who can better depict a hell, heaven, and Garden vision than Christians who are cognizant of Christ's grace? It is time that Christians took seriously this calling that the world beckons for, to provide new "archetypes" that communicate clearly and convincingly the reality of hell, heaven and the Garden. Paul writes, "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus" (Colossians 3:17). Exclusive commitment to God means "practicing the presence of God" in our studios and in businesses. After my conversion, I struggled to integrate my faith and my artistic life. I had a major breakthough when, one day, I simply walked into a Japanese museum full of classical Japanese masterpieces, and I asked, in frustration, "Lord, what do you see in these paintings?" My breakthrough was not in the answers I got, but in asking the right questions to the right person. His exclusivity and absolute sovereignty allow us the priviledge of asking such a question in museums, galleries and as we work. He is already there, pointing the way; in fact, he owns all things. Commandment #2 --You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. We must not make our art an idol, but our art must express our true identity in Christ. There are two common idols in the art world. First is the "art for art sake's" idol of Art. And second is the prostitution of art, which worships the love of money. The first places art on the Altar of Art and states with Matthew Arnold, "Be neither saint nor sophist led, but be a man."(7) Since there are no absolutes in this view to be accountable to, we are only accountable to ourselves. Demystification of Art to art is a crucial step in stripping ourselves from this idol. The second goes to the other extreme of seeing art only as a commercial vehicle, worth only its price. This idol will strip art of its true intrinsic value--value that comes from the fact that art is a gift from God and therefore needs to be honored. This commandment is not prohibition of making images. Jack Crabtree states in his useful commentary on the second commandment, "The purpose of the (second) commandment... is not to dictate how we must represent God--forbidding us to use symbols to represent Him--rather, it is to dictate whom we are to worship and serve."(8) A Christian, in this context, does have tremendous freedom in style and format through which to glorify God. Again, the question is who our audience is, who is it we are trying to please. Art that is "representational" or art that is "abstract" can both be done in the presence of our Savior. In use of images for worship, we need to be careful. I believe because images are powerful and we can very easily "bow down to them or worship them," we need to be very careful how the representational images of Christ should be used, if at all, in evangelism or in worship. Faith is "being certain of what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1). My personal belief and struggle with this issue partly explains why I do not have figures (particularly of Christ) in my images. I believe there is nothing wrong with a representational figure of Christ painted. I believe that depending on the context in which the work is displayed, the work can greatly glorify God. But I want my works to be an alternative to museums and galleries offering their Rothko's and Picasso's with their Altar of Art. Therefore, I want them to create a worship space inviting the viewers to God's throne, where an encounter with the living, but invisible, God is made accessible. On a finite level, the image of God and our encounter with God are different for each one of us; I do not want to limit, or pre-condition, someone from experiencing God and "seeing" Him on his or her level. Having said that, any works done unto God can at any point turn into a
"Hezekiah's snake." Mose's snake, a work originally made for
worship and evangelism was turned into an instrument of idolatry in Hezekiah's
time. There is very little an artist can do about this apart from having
a very sober view of the importance of one's works: my works are not my
works and if God chooses to destroy them at some point, I am fine with
that. I pray that God will use my works to prepare the way for many to
hear the gospel. The fruit of souls regenerated will remain forever; my
works, certainly, will not. On the other hand, an overreaction to the other extreme by avoiding anything "Christian" is not helpful either. I was once "rebuked" by a Christian art student for using scripture verses in my works. My answer to that was that just as someone has the freedom not to use Bible verses in works of art, I have the freedom to use them. I am comforted by the fact that many people who purchase my works are not Christians. They do not see the scripture until they are convinced that the whole piece works visually (and until they like it enough to own it). Some, after learning that they are from the Bible, chose not to purchase them. But some weep over the language that speaks to their hearts (again non Christians). As long as the verses of Scripture reinforce the visual language, they will continue to find their way into my works. After all, they are what I am meditating on while I paint: I believe that whatever is in the heart of an artist, will find themselves surface into the works eventually. Commandment #3-- You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. "Misuse" of the name of the LORD is both a sin of omission and a sin of commission (it's both what we do and what we neglect to do). That is, "using" God's name falsely is sin, and not using God's name at all, and thereby not identifying with Him in all that we do, is sin as well. In this sense, instead of using the second commandment as an argument not to paint representationally, we must represent God and communicate who He is to the world via the arts. All of our lives and gifts belong to Him and Him alone. This does not mean we have to say verbally "Praise God" at art openings and paint only pictures of Christ. It does mean being willing to let people know that we know God personally and that Christ is the greatest Friend we have ever met; and that our works are offerings to Him. Calvin Seerveld points out, "You cannot bludgeon people with Christian art into accepting Jesus Christ. But neither should you settle for just being as dispassionately good as the secular professional artist, adding; 'I do it for Jesus, you know.' It is the crux of your task as a communal body of fellow Christian artists to fire your art until it emits sparks that warm, or burn, those it reaches."(10) Because we know Him, our works are forever etched by his grace and we and our works are "different" from those around us. This difference, however, is not necessarily in the form of art but in the content. Having said that, I believe visual art communicates the message of the gospel poorly. Art can "prepare the way of the Lord" very well, but the gospel cannot be "preached" through art without becoming a form of propaganda. Art's purpose should be as Ravi Zaccharias stated, "To create a longing in people's hearts, a longing that only Christ can fulfill." The gospel needs to be preached via a preacher's mouth by words. The gospel is a historical, redemptive message that needs to be shared clearly and without ambiguities. Art can be "evangelisti"Ó only to the extent that art is coupled with preaching of the Word. On the other hand, if we publicly acknowledge our works as "done unto the Lord," and thereby claim to be ambassadors of Christ, then our motives must be blameless before God. If we are in any way "using" God to gain legitimacy and power, or seeing God as a lucky charm to succeed, then we are guilty of breaking the third commandment. I often have a problem with artists who say, "I don't want to comment on my works because my works stand on their own." My problem is not with the fact that their works should stand on their own (they should), but the attitude by which this is delivered. In light of this commandment, communication demands increased responsibility on the artist. We are responsible to our audience and even for how they react. Artists cannot be any less responsible for their creation than scientists who feel responsible for their creation of an A-bomb. We cannot, and should not, alter or manipulate our audience's reaction to our works by "adding" explanation. At the same time, we need to do everything we can to help communicate the content and world-view that frames our works. The community of believers needs to be more intentional in educating each other in art. The gap that exists between the arts community and the church must be bridged by God's community being more aware of the language of art, and being part of the solution rather than being part of the problem. When we are not being Christ's temple, His Body, we lack the power to be representing His Name to the nations. Art often provides the language from which to speak to the nations. Even for this simple reason, artists in a Christian community must reach out to fellow believers to help them understand both the form and the content of their works. Even if the artist may not be able to articulate with words issues arising from the works, someone else in the community needs to be willing to formulate ideas and educate others. We are either for Him or against Him. This commandment is a sharp sword that forces us to examine our lives and our motives in all endeavors. "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters" (Matthew 12:30). We cannot stay neutral to the reality of God. Trying to stay neutral will always end in the Lord's rebuke: "So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth" (Revelation 3:16). |
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