I have posted the statements below in an effort to stimulate discussion.  It seems to me that the art world in general is seeking to once again revisit the role of the spiritual in art (it has never really left as an influence, but over the course of art history certain movements were notably spiritual in thought and practice).  As a professing believer in Christ, I am merely seeking to examine and make some sort of sense of exactly what this might entail, the outcome of such views, and how they might impact my own work.  Please feel free to email me (cnadaska@uu.edu) with comments and/or questions.

A New Art

In order to determine what a new movement in art would look like, I think it is important to establish some basic tenets for the Christian artist, a foundation for the development of art:

1          All art should in some manner glorify God/Jesus Christ.  This does not necessarily mean making art about            Christ, simply that it should in some way bring glory to our Creator. 

2         In keeping with the above statement, Christian artists cannot make art with the sole purpose of                          self-glorification, self-gratification, self-enrichment or as a form of therapy. In the body of Christ there are            no stand-outs.  The head does not look out for itself, but instead cares for the needs of the whole body.             Thus the artist cannot be about the business of self, instead he or she should be about the edification of the            whole body of Christ.

3         All art from its earliest origins, was an attempt to explain the unexplainable and express the inexpressible.            Art should strive to transcend this reality and delve into the realm of the spiritual; beauty being just one of            the ways we might explore these aspects.  Art should move us from where we are (this reality) to another            place; the intention being to create a greater understanding of and to enhance this life.

4         Art should be about the business of Christ – redeeming the creation.  This is truly purposeful art-making.

5         The traditions of art, while not relevant to our contemporary culture in context, are a valuable source for            technical information, philosophical reasoning, inspiration, and spiritual revelation.  To reject it as such, is to            reject the artists who developed those traditions – their passion, dedication and intelligence (this also                       assumes incorrectly that we today, in the current avant-garde art culture, own the only perfect understanding            of art – a definite falsehood).

6         All art should have a sensible philosophical reasoning based on both tradition and a biblical understanding            of three things:  the nature of human beings and their relationship to God, the nature of society/culture and            its relationship to God, the nature of beauty and the artists place/role in all of these.

7         As an aspect of an orderly God and orderly universe, art should be ordered, rational and understood as a            system of communication, as opposed to an indefinable, random, illogical perception based on anarchy or            chaos. Intuition, as a function of intelligence, training, experience and research, is not the agent of chaos,            but a systematic process whereby the artist makes informed decisions.  To elevate it beyond this is to                       assume the artist is not in control and therefore not the maker of the art.  If this is so, then who is?  This does            not mean that intuition is not an integral part of art-making, rather, that it is a controllable aspect of the            process.

9         Art should be about visual truth. Truth defined in the objective, absolute, non-relativistic sense – because            Jesus Christ is the Truth. If as disciples, we desire to be like Him, then to present anything other than the            truth is to fail in that mission. One of the primary responsibilities of the artist is to make the viewing public            aware of some truth that perhaps no one else would see. To make a work that is essentially a lie would be            purposeless. To create work that elevates or exalts a lie would be a moral wrong.  In a similar fashion, art            that does not communicate is as if it was stillborn – never reaching its potential, never functioning as                       intended by God.

10         All art should have the inherent characteristic of timelessness. Great art is always viewed as such by any            generation that views it.  You do not have to ask whether the Michaelangelo’s David is a great work of art.            It just is.

Some observations:

The current symbology used to express the spiritual has become cliché and irrelevant to our culture.  Artists must find a new semiology to express the spiritual in art, perhaps redefining traditional modes of expression and symbology, or producing a new vocabulary.

A new movement should attempt perhaps to center not necessarily on the tangible facts of our current existence (as all contemporary art seems to be obsessed with),  but on the invisible - the driving force behind all life.