The metaphor is perhaps one of man's most fruitful potentialities. Its efficacy verges on magic, and it seems a tool for creation which God forgot inside one of His creatures when He made him. -José Ortega y Gasset, The Dehumanization of Art (1925) Artists Imagine... It's a fact. They have to. It's inherent in the functionality of an artist. Artists that don't imagine are like un-wet water or sound without hearing (Zen). Surprisingly... there are a lot of similarities between faith and art.. -Artists have faith.. on some level.. that something can be known. (and communicated). Even the absurdity of Nihilistic art has faith that nothing matters. -People of (genuine) faith.. use their imagination as part of the faith process... though admitting that makes us terribly uncomfortable... (we'd rather believe our experiences to be uncluttered of subjectivity).. we want them to be accepted as provable as the parting of waters.. or as certain as science. -Artists visualize and imagine a thing... and then by way of metaphor or symbol.. (even if representationally) act to create. -All peoples of faith imagine.. the supernatural world... What God looks like... Divinity.. etc.. ..and by way of life as a metaphor.. act to recreate that life in the world.. (theoretically.. for the better..)... It's really very existential. Both artists and people of faith deal with the expression of reality and truth. Both experience inspiration.. subjectively and intimately. Both struggle to get that inspiration out... into the "real".. "objective".. world... (whatever that means). Both deal with the paradoxes and the absurdities of modern life. Both struggle to communicate..... especially in a modern world... Lastly... unless you're famous... or workin for "the man". There's little.. to no money in both art and faith. Tulsa.. home of the original TV evangelists... workin for the other "Man" notwithstanding... That Can Change! Support Local Art!! |
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Imagination
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I prefer people who admit that their faith is theirs and theirs alone. That is why I have such a problem with evangelism. It's the ego of saying "I am right and you are wrong." that bugs me. I go to church, and sometimes my church friends will tease me because I sit alone in the balcony instead of with other people on the floor. Why do I do this? Because for me religion is a personal matter. It is a moment for me to relax and take in the music and the beautiful surroundings. It's a moment for me to be quiet and reflect on my life and speak with God one-on-one, and for me all of the standing and kneeling and singing and wishing each other "peace" distracts from that. Alone, in the balcony, I can listen to the lessons and the sermon, and decide how they relate (if at all) to my life. Then I can see my friends for lunch afterwords!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how all of this relates to me as an artist. I don't know how much faith is involved in my creative process. More often it seems something I'm driven to do and have little control over, while religion and spirituality is something I have to work at. But I know my talent comes from God, and I know I have a responsibility to use it for His purposes.
:)
Thanks for the comment Erin. Faith is very personal and there's no escaping that. Im ok with the expectation that there are some absolute truths that apply to people across the board. We get our sense of Justice from those things. You can't treat certain human beings one way and then treat other human beings another... And that's primarily because there are certain rights that people have just because they're human. That's from race issues to issues of sexuality. I believe those things to be grounded in a Creator who made a world where all human beings matter and have dignity because they are who they are.
ReplyDeleteThat said... I believe faith to be a matter of faith. There can be evidences.. direction towards objectivity... But at the end of the day... Faith is faith.
It's not proof.
That's significant because the modern world demands proof. Science is a child of modernism. And modern theology is just another Branch on that tree. But real faith is a whole other thing. It is subjective and it must be experienced.
It's a challenge to admit that in a modern theological world.
Art is the expression of the subjective experience. What ends up on the kodak paper is what has come from your experience of what you have seen. Faith is exactly like that. My life is an expression of what I've "seen" through what I believe. What ends up "on paper" is a reflection of my experience... Never mind what you as the observer bring into it.
All these things are difficult for evangelicals to admit because we want to believe that faith is more like a science and that we have the facts in our hand right here and now.
But faith is faith, it must be believed. And art is an expression of those things experienced.
Often... People of faith feel driven.. or compelled to act.. Martin Luther King often described his faith exactly like that... which sounds a lot like your description of your art experience. But again.. It is an experience... And I believe it's from it's genuine experience... (both faith and art) that it gets it's power.
My 2cents. Thanks for reading. And thanks for your comments.