The Artist...

My son, Erik, is an artist. I’m not. He sees things for what they are…I see things for what they mean. Our relationship reflects this difference. We often communicate on parallel tracks that don’t converge.

Until last week…

Erik posted an interesting quote on his Facebook page: "Art no longer cares to serve the state and religion, it no longer wishes to illustrate the history of manners, it wants to have nothing further to do with the object, as such, and believes that it can exist, in and for itself, without "things" (that is, the "time-tested well-spring of life")." – Malevich

To which I responded: I have to think about that. Do ideas qualify as "objects"? I wonder how art even springs from the mind without some object.

So we had a conversation…

Erik says art is about creation, not about meaning or purpose. It is not created to last (although, sometimes it does).  It is not created to “say something” (although, sometimes it does).  It is created to “be”. He used the example of somebody walking through the forest and creating a particular formation out of the leaves…for no other purpose than the passion and pleasure of doing so. The wind will blow the leaves away momentarily but that has nothing to do with what was created. It is “art” and it “is” regardless of lifespan.

Art is not to be evaluated by how I feel about it (“serving the state or religion”). Art has value and integrity purely by virtue of its existence.

Hmmm…

I thought about the Sidewalk artists on Larimer Square. They spend hours creating masterpieces that will disappear with the first rain. Yet, their passion and pleasure knows no bounds. It is the “creation”, not the review.

 

This is actually a very spiritual concept and it got me thinking about my life. Psalm 139:14 says “I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well”. I’ll take this to mean I am not the artist, but I am the art. As with any work of art, there is innate value and integrity in me simply because I am God’s workmanship created out of His own passion and pleasure.

Yet God, in His providence, has chosen to let me participate in my own creation each day. Lamentations 3:22-24 says “The Lord’s loving kindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.  “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him.” My life is a canvas that is re-created every 24 hours. Every second represents a brushstroke on the canvas of my life. When I lie down to sleep at night I can review what was created. I can look at each brushstroke and discern the author. Was it me…or was it God? The blessed news is self-evident. If I would like some of those brushstrokes renewed I only have to wait until morning and a new canvas is presented to me.

I woke up this morning with a great deal of anticipation. What will my life look like this evening, after a day at the canvas? I actually began thinking in terms of “seconds”. Is God painting this moment, or am I?

My life has become very exciting and dynamic…all because my son helped me think differently.