SEEK 33 – Is There Such a Thing as Good Art and Bad Art?

SEEK 33 – Art

 Question: Is there such a thing as good and bad art?

 Bible Reading: Exodus 35:30- 36:1

Text: “He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers – all of them skilled workers and designers” (Exodus 35:35)

I used to hate going to art galleries. As a child I thought they were really boring – I wanted to go to a play park or a football game – anything other than an art gallery. But times change. Now, the first thing I do when I head to a city is look for its art gallery. For some people art galleries are like cathedrals – they are the nearest they get to a transcendent experience.

And that for some Christians is the problem. They think that art is idolatry – that art replaces God for some people. Christians are ‘spiritual’ people and should have nothing to do with the vulgar arts. Some invoke the 2^nd commandment, ‘you shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below” (Exodus 20:4). But they forget the next verse ‘“you shall not bow down to them or worship them”. The 2^nd commandment is not against art – it is against idolatry – the making of images of God.

Solomon knew the ten commandments – yet “He adorned the temple with precious stones” (2 Chronicles 3:6) because he wanted the temple to be beautiful, for the glory of God. There is such a thing as good art – beautiful art. But there is also the bad.

One art gallery that is a real pleasure to go to is the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The last time I visited the galleries were done chronologically, according to centuries. It was fascinating that every century gallery was – except the 20^th – where we could have had a game of five a side football! I wondered why? Could it be something to do with the fact that dominant subject in all the previous centuries was religion and the search for meaning – whereas the 20^th century gallery was like a painting of Solomon’s words “Meaningless, meaningless…everything is meaningless” (Ecclesiastes 1:2)?

This is not to say that a Christian view of art means that the artist should only ever paint religious images – that would be a shallow, cheap and ultimately God-denying view of art. But a Christian view of art works on the premise that we do art because God is the great artist – providing variety, form and infinite colour in his creation. As creative creatures we reflect the Creator. Our text in Exodus talks about God filling the engravers, designers, embroiders and weavers with great skill.

The trouble with so much art today is that it is meaningless and destructive. I am a member of the National Gallery of New South Wales – and love going to visit it, especially after being in the Botanic Gardens where I get to see the Creator’s art close up! I love the European masterpieces and the Aboriginal art. But sometimes there are items that make you wonder – why?! One such was a black canvas with the inscription beside it telling us that the artist had painted a picture and had then just painted over it with black so we would just have to guess what was underneath. Apparently, the gallery paid a six-figure sum for this work of genius! There was another time when I visited a contemporary art gallery where the main display was a can of baked beans in the midst of the floor. This is a classic example of the emperor having no clothes principle!  Remember the story of how a fraudster tailor convinced people that the emperor was really wearing an invisible grand set of clothes which only the intelligent could see.  If you wanted to appear intelligent, you said that you saw them.  It’s a bit like that with some modern art.  People talk about how insightful and deep it is – until a child comes along and points out its nothing!

It is not only the meaninglessness and emptiness of some modern art which makes it bad – but also the crass commercialisation. I visited an art gallery in Edinburgh to see some paintings by an artist friend of mine, Robert, who is also a Christian. His paintings are stunning – visit his website to see – https://www.robertmacmillan.co.uk/ One of his large paintings was for sale for £5,000 – but beside it was a work by another artist which was banal and ugly– yet it was for sale for £50,000. I asked the gallery owner which one he would prefer. He had no doubt – Robert’s was by far the better painting. So why the price difference? Because of the ’name’ of the artist. Basically, Japanese art speculators would come in and buy this painting – not because they liked it – but because they saw it as a financial investment for the future.

The Christian view of art is to see the value of the art not in how much people will pay for it, but rather in how much it reflects the values and beauty of the Creator. That is good art – done with humility, skill, and without pretentiousness. As Francis Schaeffer argues in his wonderful little book on ‘Art and the Bible’ “A Christian should use these arts to the glory of God, not just as tracts mind you, but as things of beauty to the glory of God” (Schaeffer p.18). Sometimes the Christian Church has overreacted against the bad use of art by becoming almost anti-artistic. I much prefer the attitude of churches such as the Dutch Reformed who encouraged art in many different forms….just look at the paintings of Rembrandt, Vermeer, Jans Hals, Van Steen and many others. This is good art to the glory of God.

Consider: Is good or bad art just a matter of personal taste? Non-Christians can do great art, and Christians can do bad art. But how should our Christianity affect our view of art? Can art be used to point people to the ultimate Artist?

Further Reading:

Art and the Bible – Francis A. Schaeffer

Modern Art and the Death of a Culture – Hans Rookmaaker

Prayer: O Lord God, you are the God of great beauty and creativity. You have made us in your image. You have given us the gifts of the arts. May we use whatever gifts you have given us for your glory. Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and may that beauty be reflected in what we do. In Jesus Name and for his glory, Amen.

SEEK 32 – The Second Coming