Art For God's Sake
by Ted Slater on 02/08/2008 at 11:46 AM
Earlier this week, Tim Challies posted an interview he conducted with Makoto Fujimura, a New York-based artist who happens to be a Christian.
As one who both produces art (musical) and appreciates a variety of art, I was intrigued by Fujimura's passion for art. "Art," he said, "taps into the glory of the transcendent, and earthy, realities of the new heavens and new earth. Good art (whether created by Christians or non-Christians) should produce a longing for that reality."
C.S. Lewis immediately came to mind. Lewis described this "longing" as the essence of joy, which he described as "an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction." That desire? A heavenly place our hearts know as "Home."
May our art (and I believe all of us are artists in some sense) bring joy to those around us. May our art -- whether it's sensed with the eyes, ears, fingers, mouth or nose -- inspire a longing to see Heaven, and Heaven's Creator.
1. BB said the following at 12:00 PM on Feb 8:
That's funny that you write that today. I was just listening to a Third Day song last night called Eagles and at one part it talked about running and not growing tired. I blogged about the scene in "The Last Battle" where they all arrive at the "New Narnia" and they realized why they loved their earthly Narnia so much. It reminded them of home(New Narnia). Then they heard Azlan roar or something and decided to run to him. They ran miles and swam upstream and even up a waterfall with out breaking a sweat so they could run to him. Picturing New Narnia is like us going to heaven on the New Earth, I think it paints a great picture of what you are saying.
2. Melody said the following at 12:29 PM on Feb 8:
So excited to see some discussion on art! I too consider myself an artist, musical and visual, and I often find the joy in creating and enjoying other's art points me to the greater joy I have in my Father. The Spirit constantly reminds me that the beautiful colors I see and the wonderful music I hear is nothing compared to what we will see and hear (and touch, feel, smell, taste) in Heaven one day. Everything we do is a reflection of our longing to know and feel connected to God, whether we know it or not, from the temptations we fall into to singing at church.
3. xeres said the following at 12:53 PM on Feb 8:
Thanks for the support of the arts, you guys. Makoto is becoming well-known nowadays :).
BTW, I'm going to one of the IAM conferences this month. Wish me luck.
4. Sara said the following at 12:54 PM on Feb 8:
This is exactly like too-often underappreciated instructions in Exodus 28 about how to build the tabernacle. Of making the priestly garments (from the KJV):
"And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty...
And thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all of blue...
A golden ball and a pomegranate
A golden ball and a pomegranate
upon the hem of the robe round about"
Very poetic!
5. Christina said the following at 12:58 PM on Feb 8:
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
~Ecclesiastes 3:11
To me, art captures that. Is that what he's getting at?
6. Rachael said the following at 4:51 PM on Feb 8:
Here is part of a Lisel Salzer (artist) quote:
"... and a painter enjoys himself every day whatever they do because it's not just while we paint that we enjoy ourselves it's looking and observing becomes so much part of it, whatever we do we kind of paint, don't you know, even if we don't put it down on paper, if we look at a human face, it's interesting, if we look at a flower, if we look at a house, at a scene, at the tree, at a dog at a cat, at anything."
While I don't have a painter's eye, I do want to employ a sort-of 'open eye' approach to life. Noticing happenings and timings through an eternal lens transforms the mundane into something glorious.
The orchestration of our life details is much more awesome when we open our eyes to the wonders of God.
7. Allison said the following at 3:17 PM on Feb 9:
perfection. and beauty. love this.
8. Yance said the following at 10:25 PM on Feb 9:
I absolutely agree! Art in general, and music specifically, stirs me and awakens a desire for heaven that few other things do. God bless those who use their artistic talents for God's glory!
9. Jo said the following at 5:39 PM on Feb 10:
BB: Isaiah 40:31, in case you didn't already know. (The passage about running and not getting tired - one of my favourite verses.)
10. Karen Gasch said the following at 11:46 AM on Feb 11:
Thank-you for writing this...there needs to be more Christian artists out there. I hope to hear more articles on artists. I just posted on a photographer's blog from Model Mayhem who was down about life's purpose and the realization of how little time was left on earth to accomplish all of his goals...I wanted to encourage him by reminding him that all artist are creators trying to imitate the Great Creator...ointing to the irresistable desire to be connected to something that is greater than ourselves and the desire to know what we were created for.
11. Christy Tennant said the following at 9:59 AM on Feb 12:
International Arts Movement is an arts non-profit founded by Makoto Fujimura. Our annual gathering, the IAM Encounter, is an opportunity for deeper exploration and connection on these very themes/issues surrounding art, faith, beauty, etc. We would love to see some Boundless Line readers there! It's coming up in NYC Feb 28-Mar 1 and registration is still open at www.internationalartsmovement.org.