Finally found another decent blog…the whole point is:

1) Christian artists can and should work with most any theme, short of a few, any media, mixed media and all the rest, well presented-absolutely imperative (I go back to the early 70′s classic, “My Name is Asher Lev”, etc…check it again–and he did say that there were no examples of real fine artists or works, only craftsmen, in the Bible which I believe is true, but that was cultural as well…let’s paint, or whatever, not tell stories!) This was a fantastic book and an easy read.

2) Be well educated (art history, movements, philosophy and the like, everything)and well trained technically, can’t get around that; no one will look at it if it’s not well done,secular or Christian, are you kidding me?

3) Gotta have real content and innovation; that’s it, period…a new movement beyond style specificity (every artist has his own style, gee whiz…there are millions who can paint and draw, sculpt, etc.)

4) Have to mix with culture, whether you want to or not, it’s up to you to not get “dirty” from the experience (i. e., Jesus, to be spot on), or maybe you will have to get dirty, and pray your way out of it…I haven’t any idea

5) There has to be real gut wrenching, arresting, philosophical, abstract thinking with substantive content, and the utmost ability to provoke profound thoughts and strong emotion,in others, whether a Christian witness theme or not…, whether the end result is beautiful or not…, that is incidental-in the eye of the beholder, still…and a truly non-derivative idea would not hurt either, the material object resulting is merely the after effect…what is the thought behind the result?

6) Get rid of repression and fear; you have to be competitive (I beg to differ with the blogger above, as expressed) with “the world” unfortunately or no one, I mean no one (forget N. Y., Los Angeles, Chicago, San Fransisco, and all foreign world art capitals) will give you a second look, if you really want to make an impact, as subjective as all of this may be. It’s up to the artist to keep his motive straight, also…art is not for the faint at heart, it’s a tough job, will anyone do it? It’s not that you want the world to praise you, but they won’t pay attention if this stuff is not attended to…have courage, my friends…your life does not have to be an open book, just your art…that’s where the witness comes in when seculars least expect it, but you have to earn respect first…

Let’s get real people…we should be on the cutting edge of whatever new movement happens, right? If we have the mind of Christ, then can we not tap into that, doesn’t He know everything, is He not the creator of it all, including every great art idea that ever existed? (Don’t mean to reduce this to a simplistic or facile view, God Forbid…this will be a controversial topic for certain!)

So, I am glad there are some posts, and with regard to people like Kincade, oh my goodness, the damage it more immense than I thought, I could cry…I was afraid to mention him. There is a secular artist who has done a whole show rebutting his thing…check her out, name is Patricia Hernandez (“Parody of Light” is the show title). A good friend of mine who is an artist and has other artists (N. Y. gallery) in her family sent it to me…I’m open to discussion about this, can anybody hear me??? Go to http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/etc….it is something else…I accept this as a form of persecution from dear friend…it’s OK

I think this is terrible for art and very bad for Christians (T.K. I mean)…no offense to anyone personally, just my opinion…it’s not a matter of taste here, it goes way beyond that as we know…once again, just my opinion.

In conclusion at the present, the church or the world has never had any real use for mediocrity in art, whether Christian or not, period. I only wish that I were one of the ones that could have been born a genius who found God and could then initiate some of this new wave…but I’m happy being an artists anyway.

As far as theater, movies, etc. are concerned…I have not seen anything that moved me personally, yet, nothing except a few excerpts from “The Passion” (and we now know who M. G. is!),…so you ask me why I continue to watch “Ben Hur”, etc.? I have to be honest with myself here…it’s a shame.

I love great art and am open to ideas from Christians and non-Christians in the sphere. Also, just because you are a Christian, it does not necessitate doing Bible theme illustrations, only.

Hope someone will comment on my offerings here…thanks! I’ll be waiting…
Anonymous

Christ calls His followers to excellence, as Artists, Doctors, Lawyers, Teachers or whatever vocation we are called to serve in. If we are to truly engage culture in a meaningful way as artist, we must be well versed in the language of art, art history, theory and practice.

I would bet that when God called Bezalel through Moses, Bezalel had a grounded knowledge and practical understanding of craftsmanship. He was not merely some local guy who was handy, God had blessed Bezalel’s hands to do God’s work, but I bet Bezalel still worked to be the best he could be. We must continue to stir our gifts. For Artists that means we must continually study God’s word night and day, and the craft of Painting (or whatever your media, you fill in the blank).

The bottom line is that we can’t engage the world with inferior work, sentimentality, or kitch because we will not be taken seriously. Thomas Kinkade is a good example of that. I pray I can undue his damage. Let’s get to work.

Be blessed,

Christopher

Yet the same level of artistic and architectural excellence required of building the Temple would probably not apply to spreading the gospel through cartoons.

i would disagree. regardless of what we do, we’re supposed to do it all for his glory, which, i think, requires our best. which requires constant growth and exploration, whether cartoons,”fine art” or architecture. excellence is always measured by the standards of the particular field, right? so it doesn’t matter which medium we swim in — there will still be standards and works by which we are compared and judged.

I can’t see God having a problem with someone who creates stick figure cartoon tracts, mass-produces them, and distributes them globally.
certainly there will be some people to whom such a thing ‘speaks’…then again, why would we settle for stick-figure tracts when we could partner with people whose skills and artistic abilities are given by God and who could assist with making the tract even better. i mean, jack chick is not the standard for gospel tracts (which begs the question: how useful are tracts nowadays anyway?).

I do think there is a difference between, on the one hand, spreading the gospel via amateurish art and on the other hand creating a painting of the Second Coming displaying all the glory involved there. One is done to spread the Word, and the other is done more specifically for the Glory of God.
aren’t they both done for both reasons? shouldn’t they both be done to spread the Word and for his glory? i’m not sure those are separate things. shouldn’t everything be done “unto his glory”? in any case, if communicating the Truth in the right way at the right time is at all important, it does, in fact, matter how we present the gospel. for everything there is a season and all that…

As strange as it sounds, I don’t see the two things being on and the same when it comes to art. Maybe in other areas the glory of God and spreading the word would go hand-in-hand, but just simply put, art does allow for stick figures.
when? how? why or why not? are stick figures ‘milk’ then? then it behooves us to encourage them to go to the ‘meat’ of art. of course, i would argue that art (at least, in the way that i define it – which is as much about purpose and function as anything else) does not allow for stick figures if those stick figures are a result of one’s inability to exercise artistic skills. i can accept more simplistic figures if it is clear that other elements (style, idiom, content, context) make that a necessary and considered choice (e.g. haring, penck, paladino, cave men…).

Christians have come to the point where they cringe unnecessarily with embarassment at second-rate Christian productions. Frankly, there is a lot more heart, emotion, and gripping story in B-grade Christian movies than the secular garbage. It is a trick of Satan operating somewhere in all this that causes many Christians to cringe with embarrasment at Christian offerings. Perhaps these cringing Chrsitians need to get their priorities straight. After all, I don’t see any secular, atheist sexual-deviant types cringing at the talentless garbage on TV.
i dunno – personally, i cringe at second-rate christian productions being celebrated and offered to the [christian] public as first-rate examples. as if mediocrity or “good enough” should be acceptable. and i think that it is a gross oversimplification to state that there is more “heart etc.” (whatever that is, and however you would judge such a thing) in B-grade christian movies…as if non-christians are less engaged or passionate about the stories they have to tell. and as if “heart” justifies mediocrity, melodrama and cliche. yes, there are reprehensible movies made by non-christians, but there are also “christian” movies that do a pretty poor job or presenting the gospel in any relevant way (which is equally heinous, i think). an encounter with christ should propel the story and action, not end it. i mean, there are some significant christian contributors to that “secular garbage” (e.g. denzel washington) – you can find an interesting discussion about it at artsandfaith: http://ArtsAndFaith.com/index.php?showtopic=4426&st=40.

further, i think that the vast majority of tv watchers are not “secular, atheist sexual-deviant types”. most talentless TV ends up being cancelled (and then again, a lot of good stuff does too). besides, studies have shown that TV viewing habits differ very little between “christians” and non-christians so there’s little point in arguing that. it’s a straw man, really. the fact remains that whoever tells the best story (in the best, or most appropriate, way) wins. and we have the best story. we should tell it in a way that enables it to be received.

pax.