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Commandment #4--Remember the Sabbath day
by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but
the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not
do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant
or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For
in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all
that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD
blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
One test of whether art is an idol in your
life or not is if you have the Sabbath in your life or not. Do we worship
in a community of believers on a regular basis? Do we truly rest and listen
to God's voice? If we cannot take Sundays off, what are we doing to make
sure that we have a Sabbath day? We do still need to take the "seventh
day" seriously and have regularity in the day of Sabbath. In both family
affairs and in business, we must make sure that we give our dependents
(including our pets, according to this command) a day to focus on worshipping
their Creator.
Art can be a form of giving people this pause in their lives, a "mini-Sabbath."
Art can be a true source of entertainment. Entertainment by definition
is "to treat or receive as a guest,"(11) and the scriptures commend
us to "not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people
have entertained angels without knowing it"(Hebrews 13:2). Obviously
this is different from the trivialized version of entertainment that we
are so accustomed to condemning today. True artful entertainment prepares
the way for the gospel.
When God rested on the seventh day, the rest, in the original Hebrew,
meant not "rest from" but "rest in." That is, God stopped to create, and
simply stepped back from His own creation and enjoyed it. I held an artist
talk at one of my exhibits and spoke of God's influence in both the conception
and creation of my works. Afterward, the owner of the gallery came up
to me a told me "I never stopped to reflect about show until this event.
Tonight I was able to sit back and enjoy this show, see my gallery as
a gift from God and be thankful." In the commecialization of art, we often
forget to enjoy art for its intrinsic value. Both the promoter and the
artist, the maker and the viewer needs to see art as a way to reflect
and slow down. Another way to honor the Sabbath is by contributing your
gifts and energy to worship services. We need to remember that the church
is God's true masterpiece. (Eph. 2:8-10) He is certainly more committed
to working the imperfections out of His Masterpiece than we can be toward
our own works. We might even learn something in the process from the Master
and apply what we learned to our own works.
Commandment #5--Honor your father and your
mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving
you.
The development of an artistic gift is often
a generational process in which no genius is born in a vacuum. Often exceptional
gifts such as those of Bach and Picasso are products of their forefathers
(and foremothers) preparing the way for them to exhibit this gift. I know
for a fact that I would not have made it this far in my career and development
as an artist had it not been for parents who encouraged me and nurtured
my creativity. They were my first collectors, and benefactors. Honoring
them means that as they so sacrificially gave so I would have the best
in life, I need to honor them in my works. Specifically, this can mean
anything from making sure they are invited to all of my openings and events,
to possibly thanking them through and in my works. I often wonder if the
cult of individualism in which we find ourselves in America is very detrimental
precisely because we cannot honor the long generational influence in art
and creativity. My works belong to God, ultimately, but they are also
products of my parents.
Another side of "honoring your father and mother" is to honor
the discipleship process that God has given us. We need to be willing
to be mentored by spiritually more committed artists, to be accountable
to them. We need to submit to our leaders and mentors and ask for their
help in our spiritual growth. Along with this, I often felt that we need
mentorship outside the church by a mature, more experienced artist (not
necessarily Christian). I get together with a very established artist
who is a Buddhist Jew. I have learned great facts about the business of
art in New York, and creativity in general. In return I share with him
about my faith (sometimes stepping on his toes). He has remained a very
valuable advisor and a friend to me.
Commandment #6--You shall not murder.
Not withstanding Caravaggio, artists "murder" each other all
the time. We, in the desperate battle of creating our own identity, a
unique niche, push aside someone working in a similar vein. In competition,
we "murder" someone's reputation or name. I have noticed over
the years that people are most critical and threatened by those who have
similar sensibilities. I know of artists who hate each other because they
worked in a similar vein. What a loss. They could be benefiting from each
other rather than seeing each other as threats.
On the other hand, artists "murder" us by stripping us of humanity.
Both propaganda art and "art for art's sake" art is an example
of this; and yet, in both cases, I often find that artists contradict
themselves and create works of great value in both of these genres. DeKooning's
"Woman" series and Picasso's portraits of many mistresses bring
to the foreground a type of "murder" that puts art ahead of
relationships. Many of the Russian communist propaganda works do work
as art, but not because of the content. In the case of DeKooning and Picasso,
the works are valuable precisely because they depict murder. Rather than
condemning their art for its depravity, we need to realize that such paintings
depict our inner hearts. Artists candidly depicted the condition
of modernity that kills relationships and family ties.
Commandment #7--You shall not commit adultery.
We need to be as committed to personal holiness
and beauty in our lives and relationships as much as we are committed
to expression of holiness and beauty in our art. Being an artist is not
an excuse for leading a life of debauchery. If we even come close to the
holiness of Christ in purity of conduct in how we honor God in our sexuality,
our business, and our service, we are sure to stand out in the art world.
That alone would do so much to upset the cart of expectation by the world,
an expectation for artists to be ruthless egomaniacs.
When an artist signs an exclusive contract with a gallery, he or she must
honor the contract and not sell works out of the studio without the consent
of the gallery. Considering your options at the end of the contract is
one thing, but ignoring your contract and moving on is a form of adultery.
Commandment #8--You shall not steal.
Are we willing to collaborate with others,
sharing techniques, sharing ideas? My art belongs to God; not to me. I
believe that the advancement of art and creativity has been greatly hindered
because of the educational bias not to copy someone else. At the root
of this is the faulty ethic created in the vacuum of not having God's
law at the center of our lives. We learn by copying, but we need to give
credit and honor to the one whom we copied it from.
We also need to pay taxes, respecting our authorities and not stealing
from the government. Paul writes "Give everyone what you owe him:
if you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then
respect; if honor, then honor."(Romans 13:6) In this business, "dealing
under the table" and taking cash for your works remains a temptation.
We need accountablity with each other and to our authorities so that we
do not steal.
Commandment #9--You shall not give false
testimony against your neighbor.
Picasso once said, "Art is a lie: but
a lie that tells the truth." My son, C.J., who was three at the time,
woke up one morning and told me that an angel had come to sit on his bed
while he was asleep. Art is no more of a lie than C.J.'s dream. Both Picasso's
paintings and C.J.'s dream reveal an essence of their world within. Picasso's
"lie", in this context, is not the same as giving "false
testimony". I do not believe that paintings can break this commandment
in the strict sense.
For example, paintings cannot be used in a court of law to falsely accuse
a neighbor. This is one of the beauties of a painting--the ambiguity it
presents to the viewer. Evangelists, historically, never used theater
or art to communicate the gospel. The gospel needs to be proclaimed in
black and white terms with no ambiguities present. The calling of an evangelist
is to present as clearly as possible the Good News. For the same reason
that a painting cannot lie, it cannot be be the best vehicle to carry
the gospel . But it can testify, in the way that art can prepare the way
for the gospel. Just like John the Baptist, all art, not just "Christian
art," can present an existential focus for our need for Christ.
We are in a desperate need for honesty and integrity in the business of
art. In the aftermath of the 80's hype, many of the New York galleries
are in deep debt. They will sign new artists knowing that they cannot
pay them if their work is sold. Artists cannot sue them because then their
reputation will be dashed by a "reputable" gallery, and for
some, even being the victim of such an outrageous crime, they would rather
show than not show.
Collector in the 80's, trusting the words of greedy gallery owners, bought
thousand of art objects which now sits in storage because they were only
purchased as investments. Art pieces should never be thought of as just
an investment. They are too valuable for that. Their worth is not in the
price, but in their purpose in God's scheme to glorify himself. This was
the greatest lie in the hype of the 80's (and today), that art is more
valuable than relationships and artists themselves.
Commandment #10--You shall not covet your
neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant
or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
One of the powers of art is the fact that
art allows the artist to "break" every single commandment without
really breaking them. One can, for example, "steal" someone's
beautiful face by painting them. One can "murder" by playing
the role of a murderer in a play. But this power and beauty of art to
internalize experience is precisely the danger of art. Because we are
called to follow not the outward formality of obeying the law, but to
obedience from our hearts, we can be playing with fire by even thinking
and meditating on "breaking" the commandments. Coveting, of
all the commandments, is the most difficult one to keep (one that Paul
had so much trouble with, Romans 7:7). Covetousness springs forth from
the inside more than from the outside. Even pretending, through art, to
covet is very close to coveting itself.
The only way that to avoid coveting is to covet for the right things,
namely God's kingdom. We need to long for God's kingdom and his righteousness
in our works, and in our lives. This perspective frees us from putting
too lofty an importance both our gifts as artists to our works. Because
my works belong to God, I would be coveting if I were too possessive
of my own works.
On the other hand, by being jealous of gifts God has given to others,
we covet. An artist grows by finding out what you cannot do, more than
recognizing what you can do. Artists grow by accepting their own limitations.
Of course, accepting does not mean losing the commitment to stretch and
push your works, even in the area of weakness. If God calls us to labor
in the area of weakness, it may be so that he would produce substantial
fruit in our lives. We need always be willing to let God "take away"
our dreams and aspirations. We must hold our gifts very loosely. But we
need to seek earnestly the fruit of the Spirit, instead.
We need to make sure that we are being called by God to be an artist,
actor, etc. Because the pitfalls are many, if we are not specifically
called, and given special grace to "not be tempted beyond what we
can bear,"(1 Corinthians 10:13) we would certainly be victims of
our own trappings. One test of whether we are called is to ask ourselves
whether our fruit of the Spirit is being nurtured by being an artist or
not. If we are stealing more, murdering others and coveting other's gifts
in jealousy, walking away from the community of believers or families
because of art, then art has become an idol, rather than God's calling.
If on the other hand, the struggles of being an artist are producing more
"love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness
and self-control"(Galatians 5:22), then we can be sure that it is
God's will for us to continue to pursue art.
I remember about three years ago I had a gallery interested in my works.
I brought my works and I was praying that God close the door if this was
not the gallery I should work with. When I got there, the gallery was
closed, the door was literally shut--it was, I remember, mid-afternoon
on Friday and I know that the gallery should have been open. I was disappointed.
I heard a few months later that the gallery had closed. I know now that
God's grace did protect me by closing that door. And by closing that door,
God did nurture in me an element of his patience. Coveting something,
in our aspirations for success in art, limits us to tunnel vision. In
fact, wanting worldly success is itself the greatest sin of coveting.
Being "God's gift to the world" is never more important than
being Christ to the world, and thereby producing his Fruit of the Spirit
in our lives. Desiring to be the best artists we can be, to communicate
the core of our beings in the most precise fashion is enough of a goal.
Making a livelihood in art and thereby working hard to provide for our
families is certainly a Biblical goal. But wanting the approval of others
over the approval of God, desiring to establish one's own kingdom over
spreading God's Kingdom, is falling far short of the glory God has in
mind for all of us.
(1)George Seldes, The Great Quotaions, Pocket Reference, NY, 1967. The
quotes were under "Man" and appropriately next to each other.
(2)Kevin J. Conner, The Temple of Solomon, Bible Temple Publishing, Oregon,
1988, p. 162
(3)St. Augustine, The City of God, Image Book, New York, 1958, p.321
(4)Francis A. Schaeffer, Art & the Bible, InterVarsity Press, Illinois,
1973, p. 47
(5)Ben Shahn, The Shape of Content, The Charles Eliot Norton Lectures
1956-1957, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., p. 72
(6)Art in America, November, 1996, p. 78
(7)George Seldes, The Great Quotaions, Pocket Reference, NY, 1967.p. 628
(8)Jack Crabtree, Understanding the Second Commandment, McKenzie Study
Center paper, June 1995
(9) Gene Edward Veith, Jr., State of the Arts, from Bezalel to Mapplethorpe,
Crossway Books, Wheaton, Illinois, p. 50
(10)Calvin Seerveld, Articulate, The Journal of the Arts Centre Group,
Volume 1, 1008
(11)The New Merriam-Webster Dictionary, "Entertainment"
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