Beyond Air Guitar

...what, even, is Belief?

2012-01-15T03:35:00.000-08:00

In his opening address to 'Now is the Time' seminar with Boris Groys at the University of Amsterdam, 2009, Terry Eagleton makes a distinction between ‘believing’ and ‘knowing’. He quotes Ludwig Wittengenstein, who proposed it makes no sense to say, ‘I know I am in pain’ because the words ‘I know’ add nothing to the statement, ‘I am in pain’. In this sense, ‘knowing’ implies a presupposition of agreed facts, rational thought and is closed to personal interpretation. Belief, on the other hand may be disputed, irrational and open to interpretation. Eagleton describes belief as precognitive:

Can I have belief in things I don’t know about? Yes. It’s commonly known as ideology. Much ideology consists in beliefs which are too close to the eyeball even to be objectified, beliefs which are part of the invisible colour of daily life itself.

He continues quoting Donald Rumsfeld, President George Bush’s Defence Secretary, who famously talked about known knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns but missed out, as Eagelton writes, ‘unknown knowns – things we know but don’t know we know, or things we believe but don’t know we believe’.

In other words, it may be possible for one to believe in something without realising one is believing it. We might even be unaware of the underlying ideology informing our belief. For example, I may believe in the Green Party, showing my allegiance through my vote on election day, but may never have read their manifesto. My belief would not be based on an informed decision – what Eagleton describes as ideology. More precisely, I may subscribe to a capitalistic worldview but not be able to articulate why or even having heard the term ‘capitalism’. My worldview has been informed without my realising it.

Later in the essay, Eagleton cites the example of Abraham who had faith in God but ‘given his cultural situation he probably could not have conceived that God did not exist’. .If Abraham lived in a culture where the existence of God was never challenged his faith, by Eagleton’s definition, would be an ideology, an example of belief as ‘unknown known’.

Belief can be irrational. From time to time I believe Scotland stands a chance of winning the Word Cup. My belief is not based on established facts. In contrast, belief can also be rational. Before sitting down this afternoon I believed the chair would hold my weight. This is a rational belief based on known facts (the chair is made of wood. It looks like other chairs that hold my weight. I am an average weight and size), but I did not know it to be true until I tested my belief by sitting down. In this sense, belief can often be the prequel to knowing. At times, it may not be possible to know without first believing. We might call this faith: a belief which is then tested.

Many who come to religious belief describe an initial period of doubt or rational investigation. The Judeo-Christian scripture invites the reader to ‘Taste and see that the Lord is good’ (Psalm 34:8). This is both an invitation to those who believe and to those who doubt. In the psalmist’s experience taste comes before sight: the senses inform reason, belief informs knowledge, and belief is tested to nurture faith.

Belief and doubt are not mutually exclusive? The one may not be the foil of the other; without doubt it is difficult to later believe. When someone claims, ‘I know I am the best looking person in the room’ we find it more difficult to accept than the less assertive claim, ‘I believe I am the best looking person in the room’ to which there is at least some room for doubt and rational debate. Some beliefs are considered life defining and even worthy of dying for – other beliefs seem more trivial such as believing the weather will change for the better. Belief can describe our feelings towards a pet kitten but may also motivate a suicide bomber to horrific destruction. Belief may be communal or individual, public or private, personal or shared. For example, I may believe in prayer in the privacy of my own home or collectively with a church congregation. The first is an expression of personal faith and the latter is a recognition of that same belief as shared by others.

Belief is both a matter of will and choice. Those who convert to religious belief often describe a process of deliberation where varied options are studied (or presented to them) as ideologies and arguments. For others, religious belief seems to be instilled from an early age, inherited or assumed as the continuation of parental belief or the social norm.

Kieran Dodds was the UK and Ireland Picture Editors’ Young Photographer of the Year in 2005 and 1st Prize Award Winner in World Press Photo (2006). His publications portfolio includes the New York Times, The Sunday Times Magazine and National Geographic. He is also a professing convert to evangelical Christianity. I recently interviewed Dodds about the point at which he started to believe:

'I had been wrestling with the veracity of the Bible and in particular the physical resurrection of Jesus and the origins of life. I had worked out that I had to decide one way or other... My scientific worldview had been seriously undermined by my investigations and the facts would not fit—Jesus had risen from the dead—but I was desperate to find a scientific explanation… In my honours year, while editing the student paper and writing my dissertation, I read a Billy Graham book, How to Be Born Again. It made sense of the moral dimension to my struggle; the facts and the feelings connected in a way I had never understood and I prayed that Christ would be my shepherd and lead me forward. This had profound impact on my direction and choices in life.'

For Dodds, belief in God appears to have developed through a series of choices in response to reading Billy Graham’s book. Dodds’ questions about life and doubts over the existence of God were met through the process of reading. He goes on to describe the complex relation between his religious belief and the decisions he makes about his photographic work:

'Obviously I have to shoot what’s there and not shoehorn my worldview onto something, and it’s not always as obvious. How do you shoot a phone-mast protest? With righteous anger? Can people discern a difference between my work and a non-Christian’s? I don’t know but I cannot detach the way I shoot from my worldview as much as the next man.'

For Dodds, it seems unnecessary to force an evangelical agenda on to the intentions of his work. His interest lies in representing the subject of his photographs with a professional objectivity although his choice of subject matter is clearly informed by his Christian worldview. Dodds is a religious man but he does not make explicitly religious art. He does, however, make choices about his subject matter that are informed by his interests as a Christian believer. In this way, we can say that religious belief informs the practice of art in a similar way to other decisions in life such as what one spends money on, how one raises children, and even which political party one votes for. Here is a distinction between explicitly religious art and non-religious art produced by sincerely religious people. In the first, religious symbols and signifiers such as crosses or crescent moons may identify the work as religious in nature. In the later, the viewer may have no idea the artist is religious yet the artist may hint at their religious belief by the subjects they choose to make art about.

Public perceptions of evangelical Christianity are influenced by stereotyped and often contradictory personas projected in the media such as the guitar-wielding, peace-loving, sandals over socks happy-clappy stereotype (think Ned Flanders, Cliff Richard, Harry Secombe). Their message of God’s love seems heavens apart from the message of God’s wrath presented by the hell and brimstone, placard-waving, bigoted-type Christian (think Ian Paisley, Fred Phelps, Abin Cooper). One might be forgiven for asking if they all really believe the same thing. Perceptions of religious belief are likewise informed by media coverage of events such as the Waco disaster, Oklahoma City bombing, Tokyo sarin gas attack of 1995 by the Aum Shinrikyo religious sect and, not least, the attacks on the World Trade Centre on 11 September, 2001, and other horrific events carried out by religious fanatics. Here, religious belief is associated with the atrocities of fundamentalism and radicalism but even these terms have been tarnished through misuse. Remaining accurate to a literal definition, the fundamentalist is someone who upholds a strict literalisation of what they believe to be true (and universal) such as the existence of God, the authority of the scriptures or even the fact the earth rotates around the sun. While it sounds provocative to say, I would suggest we all uphold some kind of fundamental belief – although it may be as simple as the belief one human being can relate to another. Even the word radical has come a long way from its humble Latin beginnings (radix simply means ‘root’). Aside from questions of semantics, the perverse acts of religious fundamentalists such as the 9/11 and 7/7 bombers reposition our general perceptions and acceptance of those who profess sincere religious belief, as Eagleton asserts:

Fundamentalists are men and woman who have been driven into spiritual fanaticism by a shallow, two-dimensional, purely technological rationality which sweeps all the big questions scornfully to one side, thus leaving those questions to being monopolized by the bigots.

By association, those who profess sincere religious belief may also be tarnished with the same brush as those who describe themselves as fundamentalists. As accurate as they may be, perceptions such as those expressed by Eagleton make it harder for those who sincerely believe in God to openly admit it on a pubic platform, let alone in the wider corpus of the arts.

What is 'Sincere' Belief?

2012-01-15T03:27:00.000-08:00

In my last blog entry I wrote about Professor James Elkins comments about sincere religious belief in contemporary art. I've been thinking more about this since. Elkins’ concern lies not just with those who practice art as religious believers but those who would describe themselves as devout or ‘sincere’ in their religious belief. We could propose a distinction between those who practice religious belief as a nominal or occasional event from those who regularly attend religious events such as weekly bible studies, prayer breakfasts, Sunday Mass, pilgrimage, or make life decisions based on their religious worldview. It is the later that particularly occupies Elkins’ argument. The artists he identifies as being sincerely religious are those who integrate or express a religious worldview through their creative practice without irony, scepticism or cynicism but with genuine affection towards the liturgies and underlying belief systems they subscribe to.

By example, we could examine Rembrandt van Rijns 'The Raising of the Cross' (c.1633) with 'You Know It Aint Easy' (2003) - a contemporary sculpture of a similar subject matter by contemporary British artist Sarah Lucas. In The Raising of the Cross Rembrandt paints himself at the foot of the cross, his own raising the cross as if to identify himself with those responsible for Christ’s suffering. The painting demonstrates the real-life belief expressed by Rembrandt himself and illustrates a sense of penitent conviction. Rembrandt was commissioned to paint the crucifixion many times throughout his career but never with such personal religious conviction. In contrast, Sarah Lucas’ You Know It Aint Easy, first exhibited as part of a curatorial collaboraton with fellow Young British Artists, Damien Hirst and Angus Fairhurst, in their 2003 show, In a Gadda Da Vida. Here, Lucas intentionally subverts the visual language of the crucifix as a religious icon by replacing the traditional sculptors materials of wood and stone with the ready –made material of Marlboro cigarettes. You Know It Aint Easy is a curious juxtaposition of religious iconography with commercial branding. Her careful manipulation of the materials echoes the devoutly religious craftsmen of old but this is not a religious icon intended to aid the penitent in their devotions of God. Instead, Lucas presents us with an icon for our times – a religious symbol that has lost its poignancy and relevance, an image of Christ that is subverted by the commercial products of modernism. One spark of light (or revelation?) and Christ is ignited on his cross, burnt up in a cloud of nicotine infused smoke. Whilst the subject matter may be religious and her convictions towards the function of art deeply sincere, I would argue You Know It Aint Easy is not a sincerely religious work of art.

The crux of Elkins’ argument falls on an understanding of what it means to be sincerely religious. Sincere religious belief, however, is not always clearly expressed in a work of art. An artist might be a sincere Christian believer but choose not to make art about his faith. Likewise, an artists does not have to be a sincere believer in order to render liturgical art. Carravagio is well known for his religious paintings yet also famed for his tumultouse relationship with the Roman Catholic church.

In his recent editorial for Frieze magazine, Dan Fox asked:

'When was the last time you saw an explicitly religious work of contemporary art? Odds are you can’t remember. If you can it’s because it stood out like the Pope in a brothel. Religious art, when it’s not kept safely confined within gilt frames in the medieval departments of major museums, is taboo.'

Fox poses a provocative question to which there may be several responses. At first, we must examine what is meant by ‘an explicitly religious work of contemporary art’. In 1999 Mark Wallinger’s Ecce Homo sculpture of a Christ-like figure quietly dominated the fourth plinth of London’s Trafalgar Square. The quiet presence of a Christ-like figure seemed to offer a prophetic antidote to the hustle and bustle of the city surrounding it. In a similar way, Antony Gormley’s figurative interventions seem to propose spiritual questions concerning the human being in the landscape which may be regarded as religious. What of the Chapman Brothers Hell, or Hirst, Lucas and Fairhurst’s recent exhibition In A Gadda Da Vida at Tate Britain. Perhaps their work is too sceptical to be considered religious. What of Peter Howson, David Mach or church altar painter, Charlie Mackesy? Perhaps their work is too sincere to be considered contemporary. Howson and Mackesy in particular express a sincere Christian belief. As such, their work may be criticised for lacking the objective rigor afforded to those who approach the same subject but without sincere religious belief.

The words ‘sincerely religious’ need more work. Being religious is like being in love – it speaks to our emotions and sentimentality as well as to our reason. As John D. Caputo, Professor of Philosophy at Villanova University, writes,

Religion is for lovers, for men and woman of passion, for real people… who believe in something, who hope like mad in something, who love something with a love that surpasses understanding

It is impossible for a lover to be ironic about his loved one without betraying what he holds dear and causing hurt. In the same way, a sincerely religious artist would not poke fun at his God or cause others to question their belief. When we look at religious art from the Judeo-Christian tradition it was intended for nurturing a love for God. Even if the artist intended us to fear God it was a righteous fear that would be coupled with a love for the divine.

Beyond Belief at the Holy Land Theme Park

2012-01-09T07:04:00.000-08:00

A few days ago I watched Bill Maher's film 'Religulous' where he visits a Christian theme park in Orlando. Every afternoon at three o’clock, in the suburbs of Orlando, Jesus Christ is crucified and rises from the dead. Tickets are available for the spectacle and souvenirs mass produced for the gift shop.

Most visitors to the Holy Land Experience theme park appear deeply sincere in their religious devotion despite the openly commercial intent of the park management which advertises its tourist attraction with the slogan, ‘Experience Hope, Experience Joy, Experience Peace. $13.99’.

To those outside this religious demographic, the Holy Land Experience may appear an oddity (perhaps the unlikely love-child of a medieval mystery play and a Disneyland park ride) yet to the religious devout the Holy Land Experience is sincerely regarded as a form of genuine religious experience, even pilgrimage. Such religious theme parks may be demonstrative of a growing market in religious experiences that emulate the familiarity of commercial and capitalistic values of the wider entertainment industries such as Bible World Texas, Bible Park and Heritage USA. They reflect a wider economic boom for Christian-themed products such as the landscape paintings of Thomas Kincade, What Would Jesus Do T-shirts, wrist bands and leisurewear, and even the recently dubbed ‘religious and family audience’ associated with Hollywood blockbusters such as Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ and the Chronicles of Narnia.

Bill Maher interviews Jesus from the Holy Land Experience, asking ‘Why do you think people come here, because Disneyland’s too smutty? I mean you guys are just in business, right? You’re in the Jesus business’.

The cynicism expressed by Maher towards the Holy Land Experience could be allegorical of a wider tension experienced and documented between those who profess sincere religious belief (and the systems and institutions they represent) with those who practice contemporary art (and the systems and institutions they represent).

1,142 miles north of the Holy Land Experience, James Elkins is eminent professor of art history at the Chicago Institute of Art. In the introduction to his book, On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art, Professor Elkins articulates the growing divide between religious organisations and the main corpus of contemporary art: ‘Contemporary art… is as far from organised religion as Western Art has ever been, and that may even be its most singular achievement—or its cardinal failure, depending on your point of view’. In his follow-up book; ‘Re-Enchantment’ Elkins continues to highlight what he sees as the exclusion of religion from arts discourse since modernism. Elkins points out a divide that has occurred between the institutions of art making and the institutions of religion. Speaking mostly of the Roman Catholic Church, Elkins traces the entrenchment back to the art of the European Renaissance suggesting:

something happened in the Renaissance. The meaning of art changed, and for the first time it became possible to make visual objects that glorified the artist and even provoked viewers to think more of the artist’s skills than the subject of the artwork.

Elkins’ concern lies not just with those who practice art as religious believers but those who would describe themselves as devout or ‘sincere’ in their religious belief. We could say there's a distinction between those who practice religious belief as a nominal or occasional event from those who regularly attend religious events such as weekly bible studies, prayer breakfasts, Sunday Mass, pilgrimage, or make life decisions based on their religious worldview. It is the later that particularly occupies Elkins’ argument. The artists he identifies as being sincerely religious are those who integrate or express a religious worldview through their creative practice without irony, scepticism or cynicism but with genuine affection towards the liturgies and underlying belief systems they subscribe to. that would be artists like me.

Im going to be thinking on these things over the next week. Perhaps there's room here for a Morphē event of some kind.

All the best.

The book is out!

2012-01-08T06:08:00.001-08:00

Thanks to you all for your support over these last couple of months. I'm really happy to say the book is now out and available to buy from Amazon, Eden, IVP and the publishers own website here

Beyond Air Guitar is a rough guide for Christian students and recent graduates in the arts, design and the media. There are interviews with practising artists, a practical guide on surviving after art college as well as a biblical framework for the arts and a section on questions commonly asked by emerging artists with Christian faith.

You can also check out the book website

Please do spread the word to anyone you might think would benefit from it. We'll have some kind of launch party some time over the coming months but I just wanted to let you know about it now.

After a Discussion on James Elkins 'Strange Place..."

2011-11-22T07:20:00.000-08:00

At the Scottish Interface event this year a few of us had a table discussion on James Elkins recent book, On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art. We talked mostly about the introduction and a few definitions he offers for the terms 'spiritual' and 'religion'.

For any interested here are some of the ideas we bounced around.

For the purposes of his book, On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art, Professor James Elkins defines spirituality as,

“…any system of belief that is private, subjective, largely or wholly incommunicable, often wordless, and sometimes even uncognized”

An alternative definition is presented for religion which, for the purposes of his book, is defined as,

“…a named, noncultic, major system of belief”

It may be helpful at first to analyze these two definitions before comparing them to that of a definition presented under the same terms within a biblical worldview.

1. Systems of belief

Both religion and spirituality are described as systems of belief. Elkins suggests such religious systems are, “the rituals, liturgies, catechisms, calendars, holy days, vestments, prayers, hymns and songs, homilies, obligations, sacraments, confessions and rows, mitzvahs, pilgrimages, credos and commandments, and sacred texts” . Such systems may be described as mostly liturgical and belong mainly to the traditions of Roman Catholicism .

In his introduction, Elkins includes the main corpus of western religious systems within his understanding of the “art world”. These include Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and Protestantism although it his clear his central point of reference is Catholicism, perhaps reflecting his own personal experiences or those shared by students, artists and the wider communities of Chicago, U.S. and Cork, Ireland where he worked while writing the book. Other major religious systems of the eastern hemisphere such as Hinduism and Bahia are mostly ignored and not included within the book’s description of “art world”.

No definition of belief is offered. As such, the reader is free to interpret this term according to their own understanding and experience although the context in which it is used implied belief can be either private or public, personal or communal, conscious of uncognitive, rational or imagined.

2. Private and Public

In Elkin’s book, religion is described as public and social. In comparison, spirituality is described as private. As such, spirituality is something relating to personal beliefs and may not be shared by others. It may include the experience of prayer when performed in the privacy of your own home or kneeling quietly by your bed late at night. It may also describe the manner in which a boy feels about his pet dog. Such feelings are often private, incommunicable and non-communal or shared in equal measure.

By this definition, spirituality is not a communal experience and therefore does not apply to ceremonies of corporate worship and liturgy. In contrast he describes religion as “public and social” . That being the case, spirituality is not part of religion – a presupposition that Elkins seems to contradict in his later statement,

“Spirituality can be part of religion, but not it’s whole.”

Spirituality is described as the “foil” of religion , which may indicate a discordant relationship between the two. If we interpret foil as an entity to undo or oppose religion it confirms the view that spirituality can never be a part of religion. If, however, we understand foil to mean a wrapping or encasement (as in the foil wrapper of a chocolate bar) the meaning may indicate the opposite and religion is instead the centre of a the extended entity of spirituality that surrounds and encompasses religion.

4. Communicative and Wordless

Elkins description of religion incorporates the liturgical practices of hymns and songs, homilies, confessions, bows, credos, commandments and sacred texts. These liturgical practices are dependant on the written or spoken word as a device for communication between one and another. In comparison, his description of spirituality is “largely or wholly incommunicable, often wordless”. Here we may see the greatest contrast with the biblical understanding of spirituality which begins with the character of God as a being who communicates and even creates by his word. In Genesis 1 the Spirit of God is described as hovering above the waters before creation after which God speaks the creation into being. The Judeo-Christian system of belief is founded on the belief that God is both communal within himself and communicative with his creation. By the definition presented in Elkins’ book Christianity is a non-spiritual system of belief.

5. Cognitive and Non-Cognitive

Spirituality is also described as “sometimes even uncognized”. This may suggest that the spiritual person is unaware of their own system of belief. It may apply to an individual who is not conscious to the influence of media advertising on their choice of cereal in the morning. It may also describe the person who has unconsciously adopted certain behaviours, ideologies or rituals from their parents.

The term uncognized” suggests a non-rational or non-cerebral view of the world. As such, spirituality may be used to describe the feelings or emotions associated with rash decisions, a hunch or intuition.

New residency at Leith School of Art

2011-07-21T02:54:00.000-07:00

For the last week I have been artist-in-residence for Leith School of Art in Edinburgh. This is a four-week project running the summer. Housed in the only remaining Norwegian Seaman’s Church in Europe, the Art School has been a catalyst for cultural renewal in Leith since it was founded in 1988. Since the school has independent status it can teach a syllabus that the staff actually believe will benefit their students. And benefit the students they certainly do. In contrast to the wider corpus of art school education, Leith holds to traditional values of drawing, painting and making that really do set up their students for a rigorous and considered creative practice. I can say that because I was a student here myself in 1998. In an otherwise cynical and hierarchal arena for arts education Leith is like a breath of fresh air. It really is good to be back here.

LSA was founded by Mark and Lottie Cheverton (interestingly former UCCF staff workers) who wanted to establish an Art School with a Christian ethos for community, education and creative excellence. In 1991 the Chevertons were tragically killed in a car crash and the future of the school looked uncertain. However, Philip Archer, a colleague and friend of the Chevertons was appointed as Principal and the school has grown under his headship.

The church is still consecrated and continues to be used by the Norwegian community for special services and events.

Surrounding the college, Leith is the industrial heart of Edinburgh and the historical home of Scotland’s merchant and naval base. Like many of Europe’s city dockland areas Leith continues to pose social needs. The monuments to Leith’s past celebrate its shipbuilding and whaling legacy but no one wants to remember its history of gang related violence and drug abuse (think Irvine Welsh and Trainspotting). In the early 1980s, Leith was the AIDS capital of Europe – a situation made worse after the council banned hospitals from giving out free needles to drug addicts in an attempt to root out the drug problem. In effect, users simply shared needles and AIDS spread like wildfire.

In recent years Leith has been subject to urban generation. Alongside the historical wharfs and dilapidated council flats rise shiny new apartments for city workers and a brand new shopping mall that wouldn’t look out of place in the suburbs of Americana. They even have a Thomas Kincade franchise.

Here in this curious juxtaposition of old and new, historical, industrial and commercial I’ll be making drawings and painting about the changes in Leith. I’ll be blogging throughout my residency on my studio blog.
You’d be very welcome to follow my progress and I’d value your comments.

Here though and for now I am struck by the role Leith School of Art is playing in the urban generation of a troubled area. In contrast to the capitalistic solutions presented by the multi-national corporations and investors, LSA offers hope for renewal through the development of community and artistic renewal. If the act of creativity is indeed a wholly human experience there is much of humanity in the ethos and teaching of this little Art School that nestles amongst the debris of Edinburgh’s historical and industrial fallout like redemptive seed of hope.

Frieze Art and Spirituality

2011-07-21T02:47:00.000-07:00

In the October editorial for Frieze magazine, senior editor, Dan Fox asked, “When was the last time you saw an explicitly religious work of contemporary art? Odds are you can’t remember. If you can, it’s because it stood out like the Pope in a brothel. Religious art, when it’s not kept safely confined within gilt frames in the medieval departments of major museums, is taboo. Of course, if we’re talking art about religion that’s totally kosher.”

It’s not that art about religion is taboo at the moment and far from it. In the last five years we’ve seen Mark Wallinger’s Ecce Homo (a life sized statue of a Chrost-like figure in Trafalgar Square), Sarah Lucas’ Marlborough Christ, Damien Hirst’s apostles series at White Cube Gallery and Keith Coventry recently won the coveted John Moores painting prize for his spectrum blue portrait of Jesus.

So what is Dan Fox’s question really about? The question seems less about approaching aspects of faith and spirituality in art per say. The taboo seems more for those who approach the subject of faith without scepticism or irony. In other words art made by sincere practitioners of faith. As eminent art historian, James Elkins puts it, ‘aside from the rare exceptions, religion is seldom mentioned in the art world unless it is linked to criticism, ironic distance, or scandal. An observer of the art world might well come to the conclusion that religious practice and religious ideas are not relevant to art unless they are treated with scepticism.”

I believe Fox and Elkins are demonstrative of a recent corpus of academic and journalistic enquiry into the absence of religion in contemporary art. They join the ranks of Boris Groys (Art Power 2009) and Terry Eagelton (Faith and Belief, as part of the published seminar Now Is the Time, 2010) who seem to asking similar questions of the lack of spirituality in the latter day throws of Modernity.

Are they right? Are the ideas of the sincerely religious irrelevant to art or even society today? As a sincere Christian believer I want to cry hope from the roof of my studio. I affirm their questions and want to wrestle for answers. In the Morphē Arts network we have sincere Christian believers wrestling with these exact questions on a daily basis.

In recent years the National Gallery has hosted a series of exhibitions that explore the legacy of Christian art through the centuries with sincere motives, not least through the Seeing Salvation exhibition, Sacred Made Real and the current Devotion by Design. Looking to the contemporary art fairs and contemporary art scene of London, however, I find it more difficult to identify any artist whose work is explicitly or devoutly religious and has shown in the East End galleries or around Deptford and Peckham. So maybe Elkins was right when he wrote, “Contemporary art, I think, is as far from organised religion as Western art has ever been, and that may even be its most singular achievement or its cardinal failure, depending on your point of view” (From the introduction to On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art)

Of course all this depends on your definition of contemporary art but I think Elkins is talking about the institutions and practices that constitute the main corpus of art being made by recent graduates of Western art colleges today that is exhibited and bought by gallerists and curators under 40 (not to be too crass). If that’s the case, personally I believe him to be right but that doesn’t mean there can’t be anything done about it. We’re certainly trying our best here and praying for cultural renewal as we navigate our way through the difficult waters of contemporary cultural theory and its influence on contemporary creative practice.

Ordinary Time

2011-02-18T00:24:00.001-08:00

It was a joy to be part of 'Ordinary Time', an installation of thirteen artists work at St Barnabas Church, Dalston. First built in 1890 the church has been left empty for several years and left to the early stages of dereliction before a new congregation was planted into it over a year ago and new life ensued.

As I noted in a previous post it was a positive experience to show with so many film, 3D and performance artists whose concerns for the context of the space helped me sharpen my understanding of my own work when shown in this extraordinary space.

For those interested, here's a few images.

Forthcoming Exhibitions

2011-02-17T02:34:00.000-08:00

Exhibitions, it seems, are like London buses. I’m happy to have been involved with two art shows over these last weeks and two more on the near horizon.
Ordinary Time was an exhibition with a group of installation and 3D artists in the eccentric St Barnabas church in Dalston, east London. The show opened last week and it was novel for me to make work in the context of such a loaded space. As a painter, the concerns for the work normally lie within the frame of the canvas but, for this show, it was a worthy experience working with artists who have a more contextual approach to the space they’re showing in.

Coated opens tomorrow night at Crypt Gallery, near Euston in London. If you’re around this week drop on by. Nine painters approach the issues of contemporary painting above and below the surface of the canvas. You can find more info about the show here

Also on the horizon is our Wimbledon MA Interim Show at The Nunnery in the first two weeks on March which I'm involved with organizing to some degree. We're pleased to have Juan Bolivar and Julia Alveraz guest curate the exhibition for us. Finally, please pencil in the first week of April for exhibition of recent graduates work at 14 Dover Street, Mayfair. I'm in the process of appropriating four floors of the former fashion retail outlet and will be working in collaboration with Tom Cuckle of IBID Projects and former RCA graduate to curate this exciting new project.

btw If you’re interested in my studio work you might like to check out my studio blog that I’ve been posting at here for a few months now.

ARTATHON - DAY EIGHTEEN

2010-07-20T12:08:00.001-07:00

ARTATHON - DAY SEVENTEEN

2010-07-20T12:07:00.001-07:00

ARTATHON - DAY SIXTEEN

2010-07-20T12:05:00.000-07:00

ARTATHON - DAY FIFTEEN

2010-07-20T12:01:00.001-07:00

ARTATHON - DAY FOURTEEN

2010-05-24T01:21:00.000-07:00

"Chiefs Head". A nod and wink to this current obsession in my work for abandoned theme parks. If you fancied bagging a drawing that relates closely to the rest of my work - this is the one.

ARTATHON - DAY THIRTEEN

2010-05-24T01:17:00.000-07:00

Morning all. A few new drawings from over the weekend. As some of you might know Anna and I have been having a bit of work done in our flat. In some ways this new drawing, "Kitchen Table" represents the first moment of calm in that room.

ARTATHON - DAY TWELVE

2010-05-20T10:22:00.000-07:00

Further down from where Samuel Pepys stood a small eddy is formed at high tide on the Thames. Here three boulders stick up their heads above the waters. "Three rocks on the Thames"

ARTATHON - DAY ELEVEN

2010-05-20T10:14:00.000-07:00

"Where Samuel Pepys Stood". This is one of my favourite spots on the south bank where I have sketched several times before. On this spot, illegibly, Samuel Pepys stood and looked out to see the Great Fire of London. All that remains of this momentous occasion are a few wooden foundations left to rot by the waters of the Thames.

ARTATHON - DAY TEN

2010-05-18T01:07:00.001-07:00

Day ten and back on track with the Artathon. Here now looking out our living room window to the train station opposite just before commuter time in the morning. "Wimbledon Chase Station"

ARTATHON - DAY NINE

2010-05-17T13:14:00.001-07:00

OK OK so less time to draw today but there is something quite pleasing about ths simple little drawing I think. "Fallen Tree Stump in the Park."

ARTATHON - DAY EIGHT

2010-05-17T13:11:00.000-07:00

Now we come back to an image I'm using in my current painting. A few might recognise this as the back of the boat house at Teen Ranch in Dundee. It has the look of a home - built art installation but is completely functionable in it's setting. I find it an absolutely fascinating structure.

ARTATHON - DAY SEVEN

2010-05-17T13:08:00.000-07:00

Coming home from a meeting in Leicester with team mates Natasha and Brian. Natasha was a bit nervous about me drawing her (which is quite understandable) but her diary wasn't so shy. So this drawing titled, "Tasha's Diary On Train".

ARTATHON - DAY SIX

2010-05-17T13:03:00.000-07:00

Girders below Southwark Cathedral. They've been working on this site for some months now around the Borough Market. It's an interesting juxtaposition between old historic London and the new developments of modern living.

ARTATHON - DAY FIVE

2010-05-17T12:56:00.001-07:00

On the tube heading home after a day with students we noticed one seat with an odd covering to the rest. You don't want to think too much about why they had to re-cover the seat but it made for a brilliant subject matter. So this one is titled 'Tube Train, Odd Seat Out."

ARTATHON - DAY FOUR

2010-05-17T12:52:00.001-07:00

I love this one. This cow sits on top of a bar down the road from my studio with the words 'LOVE ME' stenciled over his side. Very random. I think I might return to this one for another drawing another day.

ARTATHON - DAY THREE

2010-05-17T12:37:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the technical hitch. Here we are now back on track for 26 drawings over 26 days at 26 quid per drawing. There are now 18 consecutive days ahead and hope you can tune in for them. Three of the drawings already have pledges on them (days 1, 4 and 7). Please do get in touch if you'd like to reserve a drawing to buy at the end of the project. Cheers. Al

ARTASTALL

2010-05-13T03:52:00.000-07:00

Erm. So the idea was to post these drawings every day but my camera bust! Sorry for the delay. The drawinsg are coming along very nicely. Honest! I guess there'll be a mega post after my camera is fixed and you'll see a bunch of drawings together. Stay tuned (anyone got a decent camera I can borrow?!)

ARTATHON - DAY TWO

2010-05-02T14:22:00.001-07:00

Day two of the Artathon. This time a quick drawing keeping with the door theme.

ARTATHON - DAY ONE

2010-04-30T01:51:00.000-07:00

To raise funds for my forthcoming masters course and research trip to Japan with friends I’m making 26 drawings over 26 days and will be selling them at 26 quid per drawing.

Drawings will appear on this blog and at my website linked to the right.

Please do follow this project along. If you’d like to help me raise funds and own your very own piece of original Alastair Gordon art at a shamelessly low price drop me a line at alygordon25@hotmail.com and make a pledge on the drawing you like. If folks are up for it Anna and I will have some kind of exhibition at our flat to showcase all the drawings. What do you think?

Here's the drawing for DAY ONE - CLINK STREET DOORS. These are the doors directly oustide my studio. What better place to start?

Where Does Creativity Come From?

2010-03-09T14:29:00.000-08:00

I recently wrote this short article for the Royal Colege of Art CU blog. Thought it might be of interest here too.

Where Does Creaticity Come From?
A Christian Worldview

The biblical worldview begins with the seminal actions of the creator God. “In the beginning God created…” (Genesis 1:1). Christians therefore believe that all acts of creativity originate from the creative character of God. The write of Genesis describes God’s pleasure in making the earth: the trees were “pleasing to the sight” (Gen 2:19) and all creation was “very good” (Gen 1). From the beginning God is deeply interested in the aesthetic dimension of his creation.

Genesis records mankind is unique in creation as the only creature privileged to be made in God’s image. Mankind was given rule over the earth as God has rule over all creation and humanity is creative, reflecting God’s own creativity. To be creative is simply to part of our blueprint as human beings and no further justification is required.

Adam named the animals and wrote poetry for his wife (Gen 2:23). Jubel was the father of all music (Gen 4:21). David composed music and lyrics (Psalms). Bezalel sculpted images in bronze and wood (Exodus 32). Oholiab made textiles and clothing (Exodus 32). The prophets spoke in poetry and parables. Jesus himself was craftsmen in wood. By example and design the bible champions the creative arts as integral to God’s reality and valuable in his Kingdom. Since God made all things “good” it is important for we who are made in is image to graft hard at our own acts of creativity.

If all acts of creativity originate in God what can we say about embezzlement, murder, terrorism and other acts of creativity that are neither good nor constructive? Why is it we often struggle to make good work? In the biblical worldview the process of creation was compromised as humanity rebelled against the authority and designs of God (Genesis 2). After the fall Adam and Eve find themselves arguing, work has become difficult and the earth itself is cursed making it hard for crops to grow and cultivation to occur. Painting will be hard. Design will, at times, fail but the Christian worldview doesn’t end with a broken creation. On the contrary, the New Testament describes a future renewal of creation demonstrated in the renewal of Jesus’ body at the resurrection. Like Christ’s resurrected body, the new creation is described as more real than the current creation with greater clarity and vitality. The book of Revelation describes the new creation as a garden city where there will be art, design, music, poetry, clothing and architecture. Rather than an idealised vision of utopia or paradise, the new creation is founded on the memory of a death: Christ’s death (at the centre on the throne is the Lamb of God) which, we might speculate, offers possibilities for art in the new creation founded on the memory of past lament as well as the elixir of present joy.

Stages

2010-03-09T14:25:00.000-08:00

Well here a finished painting fresh off the studio wall. "Stages", 2010, oil on canvas (90x122cm)

Its All In the Detail

2009-12-15T01:32:00.001-08:00

Funnily enough there's an article about blogging on the radio at the moment. It suggests, pardon the language, that "the reason blogs work so well is that 90% of what's posted is shit". I agree in part. Part of the joy of blogging is the unedited nature of the postings. I know very few bloggers who spend hours pouring over their texts before publishing. At the same time, I admit to thinking carefully about what I say hear, believing that words have meaning. Images, too, require thought and consideration.

In this latest stage of the painting its all about the detail. The colours, composition and tones and close to being resolved and I tend to work these things out on the canvas itself as opposed to copying a sketch from photoshop (as many painters do today and often with good results). The working title has become "all the stages (after friedrich)" referencing Friedrich's "The Stages of Life" as well as the geography of the landscape on the Thames bank which looks, to me, like a series of platforms stages. There's also a sense of how long this painting is taking... and all those stages.

New Online Portfolio

2009-12-13T04:10:00.000-08:00

I'm in the final stages of completing a new online portfolio showcasing my new art as well as the 'greatest hits' from the past. Fancy a sneak peak? Click here

School of Saatchi

2009-12-09T11:19:00.000-08:00

The BBC have been running a kind of X Factor for artists. The programme opened three weeks ago with over 1,000 artists competing for the hallowed prize of a free studio for three years and the possibility of showing art in the much revered Hermitage gallery in St Petersburg. Six artists have now been shortlisted by a panel of art notorieties including artist Tracey Emin, critic Matthew Collins and head of art at the Barbican, Kate Bush.

I must admit I was deeply suspicious of this programme at first. There's something quite hidious about the whole thing and it sounded like the worst kind of clash between reality TV and a contemporary art scene that already struggles for credibility from a cynical public. The trouble is, like some kind of guilty pleasure, I'm actually starting to like The School of Saatchi.

Each week the artists are given tasks to complete but they’re not the kind of humiliating scoffing of jungle beetles or putting ants down your pants you might expect from this kind of formula show. The artists are actually asked to make art and interesting projects at that. Last week they were asked to make public art for Hastings. This week saw our intrepid six installing art at Sudeley Castle, home of the Dent-Brocklehursts and Lord & Lady Ashcombe. These are the kind of art commissions many young contemporary artists (like me) would love to have a shot at.

OK OK so there’s an element of the ridiculous to keep the ratings up (Saad – 23 year old art student. Makes work about himself. Looks freakishly like a mate of mine at work - sends a japati through the post to Lady Ashcombe which arrives late and mouldy. Nineteen year old art student Eugenie is portrayed as a slightly pretentious and “quirky” girl but it doesn’t help her case when she comes out with statements like, “The reason I make art is to make people think about… erm… things.”) but this aside the artists come across as sincere and committed, each grappling with how to make art at a young age and at a time when traditional notions of skill, craft and historical awareness aren’t necessarily taught at art college. In fact, this seems to be what the show is really about. “It’s all in the effort of working out what is Modern art?”, Matthew Collins declares. This is an ambitious project. To me the project seems more about one particular faction of Modern art: this programme about Charles Saatchi, what he wants, what he likes and how to please him. It is Saatchi who has the final say on the winner and it’s his personal tastes that are the suggested guide for the students critical practice.

Saatchi is an Ad man. The “king maker of artists” as Collins puts it. This is the man who established the careers of artists like Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Tracey Emin, Sarah Lucas and Jenny Saville. He’s into big bold statements. Today, I see graduates from the London colleges working with more subtle philosophies for art, we seem to have moved beyond the brash ideologies of the late 80s and early 90s. Bigger is not always better. Tact and understatement are favoured over shock and initial impact. Take this year’s Turner prize for example with refreshingly understated work by Luci Skaer, Richard Wright and Roger Hjorn (some might say too understated). On the programme, Suki makes quiet video installations. Her work is calm, thoughtful and sensitive to it’s subject matter but her work, so far at least, appears to be virtually ignored by the art tycoon.

For me, the most intriguing element of the programme is the rather conspicuous absence of Saatchi himself. For a programme that is all about the king-maker of contemporary art, Saatchi is rather disappointingly… well… not there. Notoriously camera-shy, Saatchi arrives in a helicopter at the end of the show in a flurry of glamour but chooses to view the work in private, relaying his preferences through an assistant (Rebecca Wilson) rather than meeting the students face to face. It is this sense of aloofness that, I feel, best encapsulates the zeitgeist of Saatchi’s world and the cult-like status he has reached. I can’t help but feel that the students would be better off rebelling against the programme, sticking a finger up to Saatchi and making their own art for the cameras. That might do more for their careers, more to answer the question, “what is Modern art?” and more for the TV ratings. Not all art collectors think like Saatchi and there is, I feel, more to Modern art than what we see here.

Oh Master and Commander (Reflections on ‘Turner and the Masters’ at Tate Britain)

2009-12-08T04:11:00.000-08:00

The current exhibition at Tate Britain, Turner and the Masters, might have been aptly re-titled Turner Verses the Masters. Such was the scale and intention of his ambition. Turner not only set out to learn from the grand masters of European Art who had preceded him but also to better them. A grand vision indeed if not a little intimidating to those of us who seek to follow after his painterly example.

In the first room we are greeted by an impressive duo of nautical paintings, the first by grand master Willem van d Velde the Younger, Ships in a Stormy Sea (below top), and it’s companion by Turner painted in response and similar scene depicting fishing boats struggling against the swell of the waters to haul in their large catch of fish. Turner’s version (below bottom) is a bigger, bolder version of van de Velde’s original. He mirrors van de Velde’s composition but the seas are more choppy and the clouds loom heavier creating a far more dramatic effect than the original. Turner’s painting was commissioned to stand shoulder to shoulder with van de Velde’s first and I can’t but help sense there’s more than a little of “whatever you can do, I can do better” in Turner’s approach.

There’s more than youthful arrogance here. The depth and endurance of Turner’s practice show a genuine respect for the painterly tradition he was building on and there are moments of delight when Turner exposes his love of the masters through his careful study of their craft. His moonlit landscapes are more than homage to Rubens, for example, and likewise his extraordinary sublime landscapes that pay tribute to Poussin and Rosa whilst successfully building on what they achieved. This is, after, part of the artist’s task: to learn from those who have gone before us, learn from their mistakes, build on their successes and bless (or enlarge) the good in their vision towards new and truthful ways of seeing the world.

The exhibition guide opens with, “It is impossible to be an artist without engaging with the past.” As a contemporary painter and Christian I couldn’t agree more. It may be a little unfair to generalise but it has not been my experience of art schools in this country to educate emerging artists of today in the visual language of the past. To my shame I went through the first two years of art college thinking Titian was pronounced with a hard “t” in the middle, making him sound more like a 70s porn star than grand master. To the shame of my college, I was never corrected. Today we might read Turner’s vision as arrogance (and perhaps it was) but to my generation who are taught to assimilate rather than study the past, who are encouraged to express themselves rather than become aware of the heritage to which they partake in simply by putting paint to canvas and who don’t even know how to pronounce the name of the masters let alone know what made them so great I think Turner’s vision is a much needed example.

So who wins? If this is Turner verses the masters I would say that Turner more than holds his own. His sublime landscapes, moonlit scenes, architectural interiors and stormy seascapes, in my view, hold fast against de Velde, Richard Wilson, Salvador Rosa, Claude Lorrain and the others (no one paints frothy storms like Turner). It’s his figurative painting that, to me, is less convincing in the fight. In my opinion his Holy Family is no match for Titian’s Virgin and Child and his portrayal of Jessica from the Merchant of Venice seems flat and lifeless compared to the glowing brilliance of Rembrandt’s Girl at a Window (Turner's critics compared his colour palette unfavourably - if not unfairly - to a pot of mustard). Not to criticise Turner but rather compare his work with the masters... at times, the paintings Tate have selected seem more ape than able but as an artist myself who wants to build on the traditions of the past as well as navigate the murky waters painting today I would happily settle for a little ape if only to nurture a little able of my own.

(after writing these words I read Gavin McGraths review of the same exhibition which is well worth a read – linked to the right)

Follow a painting in progress.

2009-12-07T10:33:00.000-08:00

The Romantic painter, David Caspar Friedrich is perhaps best known for his epic landscapes but he also painted people. To Friedrich, the landscape was a metaphor for many aspects of the human condition. The horizon, for example, representing the line beyond our peripheral vision through death and beyond. This relationship between the human condition and the landscape come together well in "The stages of Life" where four figures of varying ages are represented by four ships heading out to sea at various stages in their voyage.

As something of a homage to Friedrich I'm picking up his theme in a new painting set in the rubble washed up on the northbank of the Thames. If you'd like to watch a painting in progress stay tuned.

Down on the South Bank

2009-12-04T04:11:00.000-08:00

I found out today my studio is a stones throw away from where Samuel Pepys looked out across the Thames to see the Great Fire of London and made his famous journal entry (the studio itself is above what used to be the old Clink Street prison). This photo is as close to the spot as I can find. Painting has always been a good connection point with history. Events are remembered. Forgotten stories retold. Even the act of painting itself can be a form of archeology as layers of paint are applied and peeled back to reveal hidden layers.

I've been sketching around the spot Pepys made his journal entry. Here rubble and debrie wash up on the south bank. The detritus of the city mixes in with the old foundations and wooden struts that used to support the old buildings along the bank. Very few people very few people venture down here although it's just below the Tate Modern and Globe theatre. A very inspiring place to work.

A New Project

2009-12-02T13:44:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I used this blog to document my artist residency at Dundonald Church. A few friends said they enjoyed the blog and have asked me to do something similar again. Those who have followed it in the past know my blogging is sporadic at best so no promises on how long the project will run for but if you’re reading this blog and interested in the project please do leave a comment.

My new studio is above Borough Market, a stone’s throw from the south bank of London’s river Thames. I’m working on a new body of paintings exploring the history of the Thames and those who have painted it. The biblical notion of “river city” inspired great works of art in the past from the Pre-Raphaelite painters, Hudson River School and German Romantics. Turner painted the Thames at the height of the Industrial Revolution, depicting the mighty steamers and inventions of men battling against the wild forces of the natural elements. David Caspar Friedrich painted rivers as a metaphor for the journey of life and Whistler, one of my favourite painters, described the light on the water late at night as a transient experience that pointed to God.

So there’s quite a legacy. No pressure then.

Final Days of the Residency

2009-03-23T02:12:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday we installed the painting to its permanent home in The Factory, Dundonald Church. This marks the end of my residency with the Co-Mission which has been an all round stimulating experience. Here's the blurb we put on the placard next to the painting.

"People Come to the Son for Life was painted for the Factory in response to John 3.36 quoted to the left of the painting.

A brilliant light shines over Raynes Park in the fading evening light. As some people walk towards the light they are transformed from the muted colours of the background into clarity and colour. Others ignore the light or walk away, remaining in the shadow where dripping paint and human forms appear to dissolve into a broken world. Still others appear on the fringes of the light or in shadow yet attracted to the luminosity.

This is a painting about colour, life and vivacity in contrast to shadow, brokenness and death. The artist paints two distinct realities that intersect with one another. On face value the two realities appear the same but the more we look the more we see that coming to the Son brings colour and life whilst those who ignore him remain in the darkness and death.

The central woman looks out and makes eye contact with us as if to ask, “Where do you place yourself in this painting?”

2009-01-23T12:52:00.001-08:00

OK, so nearly at the end of the residency with just over a week to go and, my goodness, I might just finish on time! Here's the latest from the studio.

The highlight of this week has been chatting more with the various Mums and toddlers groups who are in most days I'm here. There's been good chats about art and faith I guess proving again how art can be such a good catalyst for the gospel.

Turning a Colourful Corner

2009-01-20T08:08:00.000-08:00

You know those days when you can't see the wood for the trees? I feel like I've been having a few recently with this painting. Perhaps it was taking a break over Christmas. Perhaps it was coming back to it after staff conference. Either way, I feel I've turned a big corner (a big colourful corner) and am back on track again.

This Saturday two painter friends gave me some invaluable critique which has helped enormously. Hopefully I'll be finished by the end of Jan. Thanks for staying tuned. Please do leave a comment.

Back to the Studio

2009-01-14T02:37:00.000-08:00

Into the new year and back in to the studio.

On Beauty

2008-11-29T11:57:00.000-08:00

As a painter I am very interested in the way things look. Likewise, when I write I consider carefully the aesthetics of the words I choose and the allusions they create.

For those of us whose day to day business is the pursuit of what might be regarded by some as light fancies or vanities there are many misconceptions to navigate beyond and pitfalls to avoid.

Beauty is both objective and subjective- being a virtue we all seem to admire yet likewise being in the eye of the beholder and so forth. There is something universal about the beauty of the sunset, the spring blossom or fluffy kitten but our taste in painting seems to vary from person to person / culture to culture. We might say that beauty is both subjective and objective: subject to personal choices and preferences whilst working within an objective framework of absolute values. What are these values?

The Greeks understood beauty in terms of symmetry, clearly illustrated in the geometric order of their pantheon. Plato described beauty in terms of the harmony and balance of aesthetic order deriving from advancements in the understanding of mathematics, physics and philosophy. The Greek system of aesthetics greatly informed the thinking of the Modernist abstract painters and minimalists of the mid to late twentieth century such as Mondrian, De Stjil, Donald Judd, De Kooning and their infamous champion, art critic Clement Greenberg, in their quest for an absolute aesthetic.

Many of our popular notions of beauty are still influenced by the Greeks but the Greek notion of aesthetics should not be confused with biblical concepts of beauty. The Greek system of aesthetics moved beyond the visual language of architecture, art and design towards a higher meta-narrative. We should be careful not to confuse the Greek notion of beauty in metaphysics with God who transcends all. Whilst the bible affirms the absolute values of harmony, balance and order (we see this in the Genesis 1 and God’s creative method) it likewise gives great dignity to fallen humans who are a broken reflection of the beauty of God. If you over invest in beauty in the Greek sense you will eventually come to loggerheads with the gospel which recognises not just ugliness but also the noise of children and the beauty of someone singing out of tune.

The bible makes a distinction between aesthetic beauty and redemptive beauty.

In Genesis 2:9, before God describes his trees as “good for food” he first declares them, “pleasing to the sight”. The visual qualities of his creation are declared good along with the rest of the universe. God is clearly interested in the way things look as well as their function. Rachel, Sarah and Esther were all noted for their beauty.

In the bible, notions of beauty is aren’t just limited to formal aesthetics. This is where God’s word has much to our contemporary creative culture, cutting deep to the false values we place on how things look on the surface. God’s word also describes beauty in terms of redemption.

In Revelation the church as Christ's bride wears beautiful garments. These beautiful clothes aren't from Armani - rather, the beauty is the good deeds of the saints. In Proverbs the woman of noble character isn't noted for her looks but rather her godly character. Why do we sing of the beautiful Saviour? We sing of the beauty of redemption.

The arts can serve to enhance our lives, enlarging our understanding of God and His creation and offering glimpses of hope to the lost. Where the arts reflect the redemption of Christ they are at their most beautiful.

Paint Thin Boy Paint

2008-11-29T11:23:00.000-08:00

Follow a Painting in Progress

2008-11-29T11:18:00.001-08:00

Four weeks into the residency and finally I'm painting!

Tea, Prayer and Painting

2008-11-24T09:21:00.000-08:00

Today has been fueled mostly by prayer and tea. Three weeks into the residency and an idea for the final work is emerging at an encouragingly rapid pace. Paul and Richard (two of the church leaders) have just left the studio after a very helpful discussion on how its all going.

I decided to make the central figure of the painting a woman to reflect the high demographic of Mums and toddlers who come in and out of the building for one of the weekly nurseries and mothers groups. The Factory also hosts the Options pregnancy resource centre.

Working Sketch

2008-11-19T11:18:00.000-08:00

Last night at the studio in the Factory we enjoyed something of a consultation about the ideas so far. Thanks to those who came and for your contributions. This working photo-sketch is the closest I have for a working drawing of what the final piece might look like and below - an image of what it might look like in position.

Imagine the background of the painting to be a little mute in colour, allowing one or two of the characters to stand out in vivid colour. I've been working on the idea of representing those who are 'alive' and in Christ and those who remain under God's wrath but showing this as an everyday scene in raynes park where no-one really knows who is who. The working title of the painting is onean(d)other. What do you think? CAn you imagine this as a painting?

The Fear and Expectation

2008-11-18T03:59:00.000-08:00

Monday morning I arrived to the studio to find one gargantuan canvas all wrapped up in cardboard. All primed now and ready to go. Writers talk about the fear of the empty page. For painters it's much the same - the intimidation and expectation of the blank canvas.

Painting and Theatre, Light and Dark

2008-11-12T07:51:00.000-08:00

When I walk into the Factory it reminds me of the theatre. There's something very dramatic about the broad sweep of the auditorium and the layout of the chairs all facing forward towards the stage.

A few strides from the main door of the church, the centre of Raynes Park is equally theatrical. The wide open space in front of the train station and Starbucks looks set for some kind of event, framed nicely by the backdrop of houses and shops.

Painting and theatre have always enjoyed a mutually inspiring relationship with artists like Degas and Toulouse Lautrec painting behind the scenes at the theatre and painters David Hockney and more recently Jamie Hewlett designing stage set for opera.

Both disciplines employ light and dark as a means to creating a sense of dramatic reality and likewise both are concerned with issues of colour, composition and visual aesthetic to create space and atmosphere.

How might Raynes Park might be used as a kind of backdrop to a painted event? What might that event be? Perhaps the busy comings and goings of commuters, friends meeting and lovers greeting. Perhaps the stage is set for an event of John 3 proportions, where those in Christ as illuminated or alive in contrast to those still in the shadow and dead. Painters have often used light as both a metaphor and a compositional device. Here, I wonder if a late night twilight scene might evoke a sense of the coming return of Jesus and the glory revealed through the light of Christ as the judge of all men. Some remain in the light and embrace it whilst others are exposed in the darkness. Some are in fear and trembling. Others ignorant or in denial. I've never made work with an overtly biblical theme before and rarely seen contemporary art that does it sensitively and credibly... so there's the challenge!

Resident What?

2008-11-12T07:50:00.001-08:00

Two weeks into my residency at the Factory, it's going well and I'm encountering all manner of stimulating questions and dilemmas. The staff have been brilliant in accepting a strange arty lad into the fold and we're enjoying a good working relationship. Here's a few sketches so far.

Artist Residency at The Factory, Dundonald Church

2008-11-12T06:53:00.000-08:00

I've just started a new job as the artist-in-residence for The Factory which is the main building for Dundonald Church in South London.

In the spirit of artistic endeavour I’ve decided to hijack my own blog for the next couple of weeks. As well as the usual stuff I’ll be using this site as a kind of artists journal, chronicling ideas and images as they emerge from my studio practice at the Factory. If you’re willing, I’d love you to join me in this new adventure. Please do feedback your thoughts on the work over these next two months and any ideas they stimulate.

What’s the job? Essentially, I’ll be making a painting for the main church auditorium that reflects something of the values the church share and want to communicate to visitors. The painting will hang on the large side wall that greets you as you enter the main auditorium (above) and will hang beside a quote from John 3:36.

At this stage I’m obviously very excited about making work for the church but also, if I’m being honest, absolutely terrified having never made work for a church setting or with a religious theme. The challenge is to make art in collaboration with the church whilst retaining artistic credibility. I’ve been given a cracking studio space (below) and there’s no shortage of ideas but time’s going to be a factor. I’d really value your prayers for this project and please do keep tuning in.

Beyond the Horizon

2008-11-10T13:51:00.001-08:00

Hearty thanks to all of you who came down to my exhibition last week in Camberwell. I was very happy with the work and a joy to show with Jonathan and Charles. You should really check out their websites linked to the right.

Quite a few people took an interest in the Japanese paintings. If you didn't make it to the show here's a little background info on these paintings.

"In Denial of Horrific Events" (below - oil on canvas 190x160cm) documents the centrepiece of the theme park, Gulliver’s Kingdom, near the village of Kamikuishiki, which shut down in 2001 when the bank financing it collapsed. The 360,000 sq metre park, based on episodes of Swift’s novel, was built in 1997 as the village sought to shake off its notoriety as the base of Aum Shrinrikyo, the sect which released lethal sarin gas on the Tokyo underground in 1995.

"Shadow Beneath Mount Fuji" (above right - oil on canvas 65x54cm) juxtaposes the outline of Mount Fuji - traditionally used as a symbol for eternity in Japanese art - with the peaks of a temporary hospital cum market set up over the original meeting sight of the Aum Shrinrikyo suicide cult.

The Scottish Interface in Pictures

2008-11-10T13:43:00.000-08:00

When Will It Ever End?...

2008-11-10T13:12:00.000-08:00

Well this painting is fast becoming the longest endurance race of my painterly career to date! I think I've been working on it for over five months now in repetitive cycles of destroying and resurrecting it. Perhaps it's time to give it a rest for a few months then come back to it with fresh eyes. In the meantime I've been working on new paintings including some of the above. Sometimes it's hard to know whether a painting is within a hair's breath of completion or a few weeks off yet. This one will need to stay as it is for now. Any suggestions?

Camilla Starts Blogging

2008-09-10T01:02:00.000-07:00

Camilla Symons has started blogging about her year as a Relay Worker with UCCF and her art including this piece of silverpoint drawing. For more check out http://camillasymons.blogspot.com

Mud, Art and Grace at Forum 08

2008-09-09T09:37:00.000-07:00

Many centuries ago – no, but really, man made art out of mud; sourcing pigment and colour from the earth itself. Last week at UCCF Forum the mud made art out of man.

As the rain poured down and the floods came up 50 female campers were displaced from their tents turning the art gallery into the largest open plan dormitory this side of Amsterdam. Better still, a great piece of collective performance art.

It’s a shame. Not just for our poor campers but for the art gallery which was the strongest I think we’ve done so far. Best laid plans of mice, men and so on. On the up side, this year’s Forum was by far the best yet on size, teaching and, well, monument. Thanks so much Lois, Lou, Marsha and Steph.

Every year, Forum feels more and more like a festival with more art and music and after hours and, well, fun. Now I seemto be having a few problems with images on my Mac so until I work it out... Dave Bish has a few clips on his blog of Linda’s great wellie performance and Cully and I doing something silly on stage. Follow teh link to the right.

Painting In Progress

2008-08-18T07:48:00.000-07:00

Anna and I are away over the month of August but you might like to see how the current painting is progressing. Here are two snaps. The first taken two weeks and and the second from the studio yesterday. We're back again in September and look forward to ressuming normal service then. Bye til then.

Spot the difference.

Painting Through Turmoil

2008-07-31T03:16:00.000-07:00

Here's something interesting...

Oscar Wilde used to say that great art comes through great times of celebration or turmoil. This clip appeared on the bbc news website this morning (I think you need to click on the "?"above - anyone know how to get bbc clips up on to blogger?) An Iraqi artist who found solice in her art as the bombs exploded around her. I find it very interesting how God devises art to help us make sense of the difficulties around us and bring some kind of order from the chaos. I guess in part she escpaes through her art but she also models what Calvin Seerveld called rainbows in a fallen world.

The Capricious Guest

2008-07-29T11:18:00.001-07:00

The composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky called inspiration The Capricious Guest. Wait for him to arrive and you may be waiting for a long while.

I've been doing a little writing recently and finding the hardest part is getting going. Inspiration doesn't fall from the sky. The apple of isn't hovering above my head ready to plummet any time soon. The word inspire means "breathes in". Sometimes the creative process feels just like that. Breathing. Sometimes we just need to show up at the desk (or the studio) and work, process, hoping that good comes from just keep going.

In the bible the word inspire appears in 2 Timothy 3:16, "All Scripture is inspired by God..." The Greek word here is theoneusi which translates "breathed-out". The bible writers were inspired in a very different way than we are. The words of the bible were breathed out by God rather than breathed in by men.

Since all creativity originates in the character of God, ultimately all inspiration, in all its forms, comes from him too.

Follow a Painting in Progress

2008-07-22T05:44:00.000-07:00

Here's a thought...

Blogs chronicle something of the creative mind in process, right? Ideas are aired in an unresolved manner to stimulate a little discussion online? I thought I'd try that visually.

I know artists aren't supposed to show their work until it's finished but I've always been interested in artists' creative process (their sketchbooks, painting methods and ideas etc) as well as the final result.

Last year, our UCCF team enjoyed a few days away together in the south of France. We visited the studio where Paul Cezanne painted some of his salient works. Incredible. What an extraordinary experience to handle his palette, view his sketchbooks, brushes and abandoned canvases albeit at a somewhat forced sanitised distance for tourists.

Not that I would compare myself to Cezanne but I thought it might be interesting to record my next painting online as it evolves. So… here we go – my latest painting from conception to (hopefully!) completion.

The working title is ‘East of Pingvellar’. The idea for this painting came from the drive away from the Alping church towards the horizon with no sense of imminent destination. A journey. The haunting, almost cinematic light. The pull of the horizon. Just a drive towards the fading evening sun of Iceland, east of Pingvellar.

New Works on Show

2008-07-21T02:37:00.000-07:00

bleep... bleep... bleep... News Flash!

For anyone around in London at the end of the month I'll be exhibiting new work at the Mile End Arts Pavillion 31st July-2nd August as part of the Mile End Art Exhibition (clever title, huh?). I'll be exhibiting with a group of emerging and contemporary artists from London's East end and giving an artists talk on the Saturday night. Please do come along if you're in the area. Here's the info...

One of the works on show will be 'Requiem (Green Mist)', a lament for the former dockland workers of Glasgow. The painting shows park benches surrounded by the encrouching mist, empty and isolated. To me they were something of a forgotten memorial to the workers lunchtime gatherings and the mist seemed to emphasise the melancholy of the rememberence.

Also showing are Mary Gayton, Semmmab Guhl and Charles Reid. Charles moved to London from the States last year with his wife, Kim and now works as artist in residence at the London City Mission. He's making some really intersting work about word, words and 'the Word': weird fusions of science fisction creatures, comic book landscapes and deconstruction theory. Something like these...

Art as a Blessing

2008-07-21T02:12:00.000-07:00

At the Interface conference two weeks ago we spent quite a bit of time discussing what it means to make art that blesses those it reaches.

In the bible, the word bless means ‘enlarge’. To bring a blessing is to enlarge the thinking, living or actions of another.

Blessings and good feelings are not the same thing. Sometimes God gives a blessing but it comes as a painful experience. Think of Jacob who wrestled God in the middle of the night and came away with a blessing that caused him to limp. When the Holy Spirit convicts me to change my attitudes or my actions this always comes as a painful experience yet I am enlarged as a result.

Sometimes art needs to ask the difficult questions. Sometimes the making of art can be a painful experience for the viewer and also for the artist but the fruit of such labours can bring great blessing. Recently, I saw Steven Spielberg’s, ‘Schindlers List’ again. I couldn’t say that I ‘enjoyed’ the film or it made me feel good yet I was certainly enlarged by being reminded of such sacrificial kindness and genuine heroics. The film is beautiful and excellent: a memorial and a blessing. It shows so much of what is good in God's world, finding beauty (truth) in the most horrific of circumstances but it does not make us feel good.
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The opposite of blessing is curse. The biblical word curse means ‘reduce’. To curse someone is to reduce then in some way.

Sometimes art appears as though it is bringing a blessing where actually is brings a curse. Art that offers sentiment, insincerity or that panders to popular ideals serves more as an anaesthetic than is does a blessing. Art might feel good but actually brings a reduction in thinking, living or actions. Dare I go on about it again but much kitsch art brings more a curse than a blessing in that it reduces our understanding of God and his creation rather than enlarging our relationship with him.

As I head to the studio this morning my prayer is for the Holy Spirit to help me work at my art so that through difficulty there might be something that enlarges both my understanding of God’s reality and the thinking of those it reaches.

Excellence and Mediocrity in Art.

2008-07-15T07:29:00.000-07:00

Sorry to be away for a while. For the last three weeks my mind and body have been caught up in the Interface 08 conference - a very special weekend and morer about it in the next blog. One of teh subjects on the plate for the weekend was the idea of artistic excellence.

A defining moment in Michael Parkinson’s career came during his TV interview with Pablo Picasso shortly before his death in 1973. Recognising the great painter’s age Parkinson took the opportunity to commission his own original drawing live on air. Picasso accepted and took two minutes to sketch Parkinson’s portrait as the interview continued. Parkinson was thrilled. It was an excellent sketch

“Out of interest,” asked Parkinson, “How much would this sketch sell for?”

Picasso replied with a rye smile, “Around six thousands pounds,”

“Six thousand pounds! How can something so quick be worth so much?”

The audience was shocked by Parkinson's somewhat out of character affront but Picasso, easing back into his armchair, was completely unfazed.

“Michael, this drawing did not take me two minutes,” he said. “I’ve been working on it for over eighty years.”

Picasso knew, as all true masters know, that excellence does not come overnight.

Good art doesn’t happen quickly. Like Picasso, Bezalel would have worked hard over several years: Developing the gifts God had given him and grafting hard. Therefore, hard graft is a thoroughly biblical value.

As a student worker, I sometimes meet young artists who use their artistic gifts as a license for laziness. Sometimes this is manifest in simply not working all that hard at their art, perhaps skipping the odd tutorial or crit. On occasion, I meet students who think God would rather have them at another bible study than go to lectures. Not only does this crave a false segregation between the sacred and the secular, it also undervalues the gift of God’s Spirit for skill, craft and knowledge .

In the Exodus account we see an anointing for hard graft: for skill, ability and knowledge. In so doing we have a challenge to work hard in our own discipline. Paul writes to the Colossians in 3:23;

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for men”.

Whatever you do: Be that painting, sculpture, dance or writing; Whether you work in a city centre office or a studio under a railway arch. All our work is to be considered worship to the Lord and we are to work well for His glory.

This is not to say that there is nor room for the mediocre in art. Franky Shaeffer wrote a pretty venemous book on the subject of Christians being 'Addicted to Mediocrity'. I don't agree with some of his ideas. It strikes me that God gifts some with a lavious degree of artistic gifting whilst others receive less. The same might be said for other spiritual giftings such as evangelism, administration, preahing, prophecy and hospitality. Surely our responsibility is to fan into flame the measure of gifting God has given us, working with all our hearts with the tools at our disposal as working for the Lord and not for men and asking that God might lavish us with more for His glory. We need excellent artists buit I likewsie believe we also need the mediocre. What do you think?

Cultural Transformation: Authentic Art

2008-06-20T04:59:00.000-07:00

Christ called us to live in a way that reflected the truth within us: the truth of Christ.

How then, does our art communicate something of this truth? Perhaps it begins by making work that is rooted in authenticity. By that, I mean art that is honest, sincere and points to the truth.

The dictionary definition of authentic is that which is “genuine and original, as opposed to something that is a fake or reproduction.” Art that moves beyond Air Guitar mimicry will always seek to be authentic. We might be inspired by or reference greater artists, even imitate but always as an act of tribute and not one of mere copying or plagiarism.

An authentic artist seeks to point to the truth. When Christ explained what the Kingdom of God was like to his followers he chose to do so in the form of a story. “The kingdom of God is like a pearl”, he said or “the kingdom of God is like a net” elsewhere.

These stories were artistic keys that unlocked a door to understanding something infinitely more difficult to understand yet true. His storytelling art was an authentic use revelation of a greater reality. Was Jesus telling lies when he told such parables? Was he tricking his audience or posing riddles to confuse? Of course not.

Like the actor who tells a story through someone else’s eyes or the painter who constructs a visual myth, the stories of Jesus were as compulsive as they were revelational. Christ’s followers kept coming back for another listen. Even the disciples asked, “Teacher, what did that mean?” "Tell us more."

In the same way, our art can stimulate the same intrigue over matters of truth. Rather than spoon-feeding reality to our audience we can engage, get under the skin, cause the audience to come back for more and ask, "What does this mean? Tell us more." All the while pointing to a greater reality found in Christ. This is authentic art.

Interface 08

2008-06-20T02:30:00.001-07:00

Interface 08 is approaching fast for 4-7 July.

INTERFACE 08 is a creative convergence I'm involved with of students and professionals in the arts and media who love the Lord and want to see him glorified in the creative industries. As the end of term beckons it’s the end of a year for some and the start of a career for others. Before you jet off for that beach holiday or summer project why not meet with fellow Christian creatives to converse the joys and challenges of serving Christ in the arts.

Interface is a mentoring conference; our speakers don’t talk at you: we talk with each other: This year we'll be thinking through... Life After Art College. Creative Careers for Christ. Self-Expression versus Godly Communication. A Christian Understanding of Dance. Design. Music and Art. Art and the Bible. Visual Communication and Why Evangelicals Don’t Do Art.

There’ll be all the usual open mic shenanigans, show and tell, plenty of prayer, worship and good times. Everyone has the chance to show recent work and to bring your own ideas to the table. Would be great to see you there.

Check out the link on the right.

Cultural Transformation

2008-06-16T03:05:00.000-07:00

How are cultures transformed for the glory of Jesus?

You may have spotted the underlying theme of this blog is the role Christians can play in the cultivation of the creative arts for Christ. What role can art play in the transformation of minds and character?

I wanted to write a couple of blog entries reflecting on this question. Please do leave a comment with your ideas too.

Whenever we speak of transformation we have to begin with the gospel. The only means by which our broken culture can find hope is through the redemptive power of Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection. As we hope for transformation we hope by the grace of the gospel. It’s the gospel that brings salvation.

Paul encourages the Philippians to live in a manner that reflects the glory of God. We might say the same of our creativity,

“Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life.” (Phil 2:14-16)

In our art and in our lives we hope that there is something attractive to those who don’t share our deepest beliefs held in synergy with the proclamation of Jesus’ gospel so those who don’t know might hear, in hearing believe and in believing receive eternal life. We shine like stars and we also hold out the word of life – the gospel of Christ.

Second, we hope for transformation through the power of the Holy Spirit (Christ’s Spirit).

Think back to how Adam made culture in Eden. As he worked the land, the Spirit brought a groundswell of water to cultivate his efforts. When we make culture we always do so in partnership with the Holy Spirit. Think of Bezalel who developed skill, ability and knowledge in design which were gifts of the Spirit (Exodus 31). Think of David who wrote music primarily for the Lord and then later used for communal worship.

Third, we hope for transformation in the name of Jesus.

If we read that with Hebrew eyes we read it as “in the character” of Jesus. Our art is a gift to the name and character of Jesus Christ and for him to do with as he will. Imagine art make with excellence for the fame of God and not the artist. Imagine art with credibility, authenticity and character by the grace of Christ’s gospel, through the power of Christ’s Spirit and created in and for the name of Jesus Christ.

What might that look like? I invite you to keep dancing with me as I try to work this out in my own art and thinking…

Why is this blog called ‘Beyond Air Guitar’?

2008-06-16T02:49:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much for reading this blog.

I’ve been surprised and touched by how may people have been tuning in and engaging with what I’ve written. Talk about incentive to think about what I’m writing! May I reward you commitment to reading this blog by asking you a favour… Please do not believe what I say. Challenge these words. Question them. Probe, search and debate what I say. As Paul writes to the Thessalonians, “TEST EVERYTHING” (1 Thess 5:21)

Please do leave a comment and let me know what you’re thinking and making. Is this blog useful to you? What shall we discuss together?

The blog started with the article 'Beyond Air Guitar'. If you want a bit of background click on the link to May posts on the right and 'Air Guitar Art'

Our Creative Mandate (Part 5): Cultivating Creation

2008-06-12T00:36:00.000-07:00

Creativity is an act of hope.

Creativity carves order and harmony from the chaos. An act of creativity can offer direction where there is uncertainty, illumination where there is darkness or consolation where there is mourning and despair.

To create is to fulfil something of our creation mandate to “fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28). Put another way, God’s instruction to Adam and Eve was to cultivate creation and steward it for the Lord. From the word cultivate stems from the same root as the word culture. We are to make culture, bringing growth and blessing as we create.

Not all acts of creativity bring hope. We might say that murder, rape and terrorism: flying a plane into the twin towers are all creative acts yet they do not bring glory to God. Far from cultivation and blessing these acts bring pain and destruction. They stand against God’s desires for His creation.

Not all works of art bring glory to God. Some, by motivation, worship worldly ideals and attitudes rather than honour Christ and his commands.

The freedoms we enjoy as image bearers to God are gilded within a framework of responsibilities. As we create we are to care for the earth, not bring harm.

Today we continue in the legacy of Adam who was the first to cultivate the land. Like Adam, we take hold of that which God has given in creation and in us and we work it. In the groundswell of God’s spirit we pray for the germination of our creativity so that it multiplies, bringing renewal and blessing to the world.

We multiply, enrich, bless, enlarge and grow that which is good whilst restoring, renewing and redeeming that which is broken. We sing, write, dance, skip, paint, sculpt, preach, cook, dig and plant. We cultivate for our King. We make culture for Christ.

Our Creative Mandate (Part 4): Go Ape

2008-06-09T05:40:00.000-07:00

Paul Cezanne rarely discussed his painting on the public platform but in a rare interview conducted for a Parisian newspaper he admitted to a form of plagiarism. “ I aspire to be like my predecessors,” he confessed, “building on their legacy.” He was speaking of his artistic hero and painterly father, the French classical painter, Nicholas Poussin.

Cezanne recognised the importance of legacy in his own artistic practice, drawing inspiration from those who had gone before him and, in some ways, imitating their creative gifting.

In a previous blog entry I encouraged fellow Christians in the arts to move beyond mere mimicry in their art: to strive for authenticity, excellence and innovation for the glory our God; to move beyond air guitar. Thanks to Rechord who responded with the comment, "Some art/design/music 'needs' to ape in order to respect its audience and/or its commissioners, and therefore fulfil its purpose in a loving way." I agree and it’s important we hold the biblical mandate for cultural innovation with that of godly imitation. How do we learn from those God has generously gifted with creativity without plagiarising or turning our artistic heroes into idols?

Imitation is a thoroughly biblical value when approached in a godly manner. In fact, it’s part of our creation mandate. In Genesis 2 we read that man is made in the image of God and, as such, is embossed with the blueprint impression of God: Human beings are an imitation of the creator God. Imitation is a biblical value even Paul recognises in his letters encouraging the Corinthians to imitate him as he imitates Christ (1 Cor 4:16) and the Thessalonians to become imitators of the Lord (1 Thess 1:6)

In the creative arts, how do we imitate in a way that brings glory to God? Are there times when it is appropriate to mimic? How do we know what to imitate? Perhaps we can gleam some help from Paul’s famous words to the Philippians 4:8, substituting “think about” for “imitate”,

‘Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.”

One of the most appropriated phrases in Baroque music has to be that of ‘Air on a G string’ by J.S. Bach. British band Procul Harem wrote ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’ with Keith Reid’s curious lyrics surfing over the top of Bach’s haunting melody, “We skipped the light fandango / skipped cartwheels ‘cross the floor / I was feeling kinda sea sick / but the crowd cried out for more.” (What on earthy does that mean?!) Anime composer, Shiro Sagisu, re-worked the piece for the soundtrack of the Japanese animation film, Evangeleon. It appears in the Beatles film, Yellow Submarine, David Fincher’s Se7en, Halloween, The Spy Who Loved me and even THAT advert for Hamlet cigars.

What happen to this piece of music with each consecutive imitation? Is Bach’s original somehow tarnished by the appropriation or are the imitators building his work? Do they plagiarise or imitate, copy or pay tribute?

There are times when it is appropriate to appropriate. There are times when we ape.

As image bearers of God we should be aping Christ all the time. As a painter I am indebted to artistic giants who have gone before me on whose shoulders I aspire to climb, not for the sake of mere mimicry but to learn from their creative gifting so that I might be able to better my own creative efforts for the glory of God.

Gather We, No More

2008-06-09T04:26:00.000-07:00

A few people have been asking to see some of my recent painting. Apologies to those who caught this image already on my previous blog but here we go: my most recent painting completed four weeks ago.

So here we go, hot off the studio wall. This is oil on canvas83cmX52cm. The church commemorates the meeting point of the ancient Iclanders: the yearly 'Alping' gathering was the focul point of the communities' calender. The Apling was an annual festival where all social ceremonies and law speaking would take place. The painting is something of a lamentation for the loss of community and titles, 'Gather We, No More'.

Our Creative Mandate (Part 3): Holding the Keys to Culture (not Gozer)

2008-06-03T01:10:00.001-07:00

I know I know… yet another film revealing both my age and my geekish tendencies but you have to admit, this one was great, wasn’t it?

Forgive a crude link to a theme but the notion of ‘holding the keys’ has captured my thoughts for the last couple of days.Beyond the mere freedom to create in the presence of our God we are called into a mandate with responsibilities for our creativity. As image bearers of God we are charged with the cultivation of the earth: God did not say, "Let there be culture" but entrusted the culivation of His creation to us: as if we have been granted the keys to culture by which we protect and unlock that which God has invented through His word.

After God has created man in his image he says to them,

“Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Genesis 1:28

There are four instructions given here: to be fruitful, to increase in number, to subdue and to rule. What do they mean? How do we follow these instructions in the arts?

I’ve already said a few things in a previous blog about bearing fruit and multiplication. There was a literal instruction for Adam and Eve to go and have kids but the instruction moves beyond mere reproduction of the species: God’s command comes in the context of developing culture across all of creation. The first humans were to bless the earth and blessing means to enlarge, increase, multiply.

When we read “subdue” it brings negative connotations to us at first. Elsewhere in the Old Testament the word is used to describe the crushing of nations, literally translating as “under the heel” or “crushed down” but Genesis doesn’t prescribe a tyrannical oppressorship of culture. Far from it. We are to bless creation and cultivate fruit, not reduce and oppress. Our subduing of culture marks more our authority in creation as those who rule over it as image bearers of the ruling God.

As Uncle Ben once said to Peter Parker, “With much power comes much responsibility.”

Recently, I heard Ted Ternau speak at the European Leadership Forum on this subject of stewarding creation. He described our role as something like "zookeepers of the imagination". I thought it was a great analogy. If you’ve ever been to a zoo where the animals are badly kept you’ll relate to the sense of despair and hopelessness the animals convey. A poorly kept zoo yields despairing and hopeless animals. As we serve as custodians of God’s creation - this precious gift of God for our enjoyment and care – we are to manage it well, taking care of all areas of society and culture.

I see it something like holding the keys that unlock culture: realise it’s full potential. What are these keys?

They include integrity, sincerity and authenticity: we are called to reveal something of truth in a created yet fallen world. They include humility, prayer and hope: we understand that it is the power of God’s spirit that brings new life and leads our partnership in new creativity. They include artistic invention, critique and hard graft: the tools by which Adam first began to cultivate creation back in the Garden of Eden.

As we hold out the keys to culture we do so in wonder at the gift of governance God has entrusted to us and, if you’re anything like me, with a certain sense of awe that makes you cry out, “How do we do this Lord?”

Our Creative Mandate (Part 2): Dancing in the Rain

2008-06-02T10:09:00.000-07:00

Ready for love... with a smile on your face... and... erm... ready to buy a Golf.

It's an extraordinarily generous gift of God that we can make art. He didn’t have to make us creative but by His choice here we are writing, singing, painting, sculpting, designing, acting and dancing. That God allows us to build on what He has already created: to re-create; to make complex and diversify is an astonishing outworking of His character.

God did not say, “Let there be culture” but commissioned Adam and Eve to cultivate the earth with Him and for His glory. Adam is commanded to name the animals: a task of ontologically inventive significance. Prior to Genesis 2 it is only God who names the animals. Now, Adam is granted a creative partnership with his maker, reflecting the image he bears to his sovereign father. Amazing!

When I look back to the creation mandate I see so much that helps me to understand this great human task of being creative.

Take Genesis 2: 4-6.

"When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens- no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground"

In order for creation to cultivate there needs to be two vital ingredients: an action of God and an action of human beings. In this case man works the garden and God brings the water: as Adam worked the land God makes a groundswell of water under his feet bringing life to his efforts - cultivating the land and bringing growth. This is a creative partnership between God and man that we see throughout Scripture. Think of Bezalel who (in Exodus 31) is filled with the gift of God's Spirit (God's action) and works with skill ability and knowledge (Man's action) producing the creative fruit of the art of the tabernacle. Think also of David who wrote songs and hymns while alone in the wilderness. Think of Ezekial and Hosea who changed societies through creative acts inspired by the word of God.

If our creative mandate is to cultivate all things (make culture) how do we experience this groundswell of life in the arts? Do we still experience it or is this just a Genesis thing? How does God bring life enriching water to the creative industries?

Our part seems clear: like Adam we are to work and care for our culture. We are to work well: “Work with all your heart as working for the Lord…” as Paul puts it to the Colossians (3:23). His part is to operate His Spirit. As we work, write, sculpt, dance and sing we do so in the hope of God’s Spirit who brings growth and blessing (enlargement) like the water in the creation story.

I invite you to skip along with me as I try to understand something of what it means to work in the groundswell of God’s Spirit and make art for His pleasure: creating and cultivating; making art in the water; dancing in the rain.

Our Creative Mandate (Part 1): Before I am an Artist I am a Human

2008-06-02T08:36:00.001-07:00

After several attempts at starting this blog entry I realised that I was jumbling into something that would be better worked out through a series of entries. So bear with me, good people. Here’s jumble number one with more blogular rambulations to follow in good time.

There’s a sub-plot to Ridley Scott’s film Blade Runner that emerges as Harrison Ford runs for his life across the rooftops of the futuristic distopian city trying to escape Reutger Hauer’s brilliantly portrayed replicant human. In the climax, Hauer crouches before his Nemesis and delivers his eulogy: a dying monologue on the subject of mortality. What does it mean to live? What does it mean to die? He articulates one of Phillip K Dick’s favourite questions, What is a human? Where have we come from? How long have we got? The questions beat down like tears in the rain... Rain. There'll be more of that later.

As I’ve been thinking through what it means to make art beyond air guitar I’ve found myself coming back again to the story of Genesis and our creation mandate. Of course, our understanding of the freedom and responsibilities we have as artists stems from our understanding of the freedoms and limitations of being human.

We have life but we are finite: so we can create and bring renewal through our art but only within the limitations of fallen and broken people. We can make art of celebration, wonder, and praise: proclaiming great joy but we should also lament in our art: recognising that not all is good in the world. Our art, like all humans, exists in the tension of a world that is wonderfully created yet deperately broken, awaiting the hope of Christ's return.

The nature of man’s existence has been the subject of countless writing and has perplexed the greatest minds of philosophers and scientists for centuries. Not surprisingly, the bible has much to say on the issue. As Christians, we believe that our purpose and identity are ontologically entwined with the likeness we bear to our creator God. The jewel in the crown of God’s creation is the only creature privileged to bear His image, man.

God created man in His own image.
In the image of God He created him.
Male and female he created them.
(Genesis 1:27)

As image bearers to God, we inherit many of His attributes. God is a spiritual being, therefore we have a spirit. God is a physical being and so we have physicality. God is a moral, relational and social. In the same way we each have the ability to make decisions about what is right and wrong, we all look for relationships to find fulfilment and would mostly all want to belong in some form of community whether that be a family, friendships, peer groups or some other form of society. All these attributes of our humanity originate from the blueprint God, fashioned for us when He created us like Him.

In the same way just as God is creative so we are creative. There is no need to justify our creativity. To make art is as human an activity as eating a meal, going to sleep or enjoying being with family. Art is a gift from God, poured lavishly upon us and in making art we fulfil something of our purpose on this earth as human beings.

We are not just free to create, however: we have a mandate. As those made in the image of God we must be creative. Just as we are spiritual, physical, moral, relational and social beings so likewise we are creative. To suppress our creativity is tantamount to denying our humanity. This does not give license to acts of creativity that are irresponsible or harmful. By no means, the gift of creativity is given that we might praise God and bless (bless = enlarge) His creation, including one another.

In Genesis 2 Adam and Eve are placed in the newly created Eden and commissioned them with the unique task of cultivating creation:

“The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”
Genesis 2:15

The work cultivate comes from the same root word as culture: as Adam and Eve take care of God’s creation they are commissioned with the stewardship and handling of culture.

What were Adam and Eve commanded to take care of? In traditional illustrations of bible stories we often see Adam as a gardener (with Eve standing naked behind a conveniently placed bush and holding a rabbit). Adam and Eve were not just to cultivate the garden, however, they were commissioned to subdue the whole earth (Genesis 1:28). The rivers under their charge would flow out of Eden and beyond to Cush, Asher and Havilah: a region rich in gold and precious stones. In other words, their curation would have a wider effect on the cultivation of future societies. In Eden itself, there was a plethora of vegetation and animals but also the rather mysterious trees of life and also tree of knowledge of good and evil. Whatever we understand this tree to represent it is clear that it was more than just a plant and the first human beings were charged with it’s care even though they were prohibited it’s fruit.

So what do we make of this mandate to work and take care of creation?

First, we say again that the mere act of creativity reflects the image of God's character in us. Being creative is part of the human expereince God inteded us to enjoy. As such, we don't need to justify making art any more than we need justify riding a bike or eating a meal. Second, it is clear that we work to cultivate all creation, including the arts. Third, we understand that to cultivate creation is to make culture (the two words stem from the same root). As I paint, write and work I am reminded that, like Adam who wrote Eve her first love song (see Genesis 2:23), I am commissioned with the stewarding of culture: defending it and making it. As I try to be a husband, son, friend and brother I am likewise reminded that Adam administered an intimate culture through Eve and his children. To be an artist is to be human, to be human is to cultivate, to cultivate is to work in and take care of culture.

Remember... Art

2008-05-31T10:39:00.001-07:00

Perhaps the more helpful question to the problematic, “What is art?” is “How is art...?”

One important function of art is that of memorial. Contemporary artists such as Jeremy Deller (below left), Mark Wallinger (below right) and Luc Tuymans (above) incorporate an element of memorial in their work citing events such as the minors strike of the 1980s, the gas chambers of WWII or the disestablishment of the Berlin wall respectably.

Of course, the preservation of important memories is not a new idea to the arts by any means. We could also cite Poussin, Claude, Rembrandt, Rubens and Stanley Spencer to name just a few who have all catalogued the horrors of war.

We might say that the idea of using art to remember first came from God. Think of the rainbow as a symbol of God’s promise to Noah never to destroy the earth again. Think of the Israelites who, time and again would forget what God had done for them in bringing them out of slavery in Egypt to the promised land of freedom. God instructed them to make art as a visual memorial in the form of stone pyres and monuments. In a similar way think of the bread and wine which serve as a memorial of Christ’s sacrifice when we meet together for communion.

Art can serve as a permanent reminder of historic events we should never forgot. It can help us come to terms with difficult memories and learn from the mistakes of our past. It’s important that we remember.

Air Guitar Art

2008-05-31T03:12:00.000-07:00

Deep in the darkest recesses of my parents’ garage I recently came across a much-loved object from my childhood: sandwiched between boxes of old Wonder Stuff records and videotapes (remember those?), I found what to most people would look like an old tennis racket: A very battered tennis racket… but to me this was no ordinary Wilson Raleigh Junior. This had been my axe of power, my wielder of wrath, my chrome-plated flying V with custom pick-ups and leopard skin strap. This was my old air guitar.

If you’ve ever fancied yourself as a bedroom rock-star you too might have spent nights in front of your parents mirror raising an imaginary plectrum of power to the ceiling, strumming down with full rock furry to the sounds of your favourite air guitar hits. Come on, we've all done it.

Air guitar is escapist fantasy at it’s best. All twang and no substance. There’s nothing real about it. Beyond the ability to press the play button on your Sony walkman, air guitar requires absolutely no skill whatsoever. Air Guitar is a pretence: we pretend we’re doing something amazing when really we’re just larking around.

I've been thinking about how sometimes we Christians in the arts play the Air Guitar in creative culture.

Sometimes we play air guitar to the creative industries.

We see some really cool graphics on a billboard or the cover of an album and we copy it for our mission week publicity. A Christian band like the music of a guys like Coldplay or U2 and copy their sound exchanging but changing the lyrics to be more edifying or more ‘Christian.’ The Christian painter who likes the energy and freedom of Jackson Pollock and apes his style only saying it’s the Holy Spirit who guides his brush, not his subconscious.

In all these ways we play air guitar to what someone else has already made. We echo what everyone else is doing in a bid to be culturally relevant but in so doing, we’re always two steps behind the rest of society, rather than leading the way. The world leads the church rather than the church leading the world. Or, to put it another way, the world becomes the salt and light of the church rather than the church being the salt and light of the world.

Sometimes we play air guitar to God.

Paul encourages us to work hard in all we do as working for the Lord and not for men (Col 3:23). When we create we make for an audience primarily of one: we create for Christ: So we are to sing, dance, sculpt, design, model, write, compose and paint with all our hearts for Jesus, not just the guy who’s writing the cheque. This is our spiritual act of worship – our art!

In Genesis 1 Adam and Eve are commissioned by God with the stewardship of the earth. God tells them to “Fill the Earth and Subdue it”… taking care of all living things and the planet itself. Genesis 1:28

This isn’t just an instruction to do the gardening: this is a biblical mandate to take care of all creation. That means all animals, all humans, all culture. Christians aren’t called to play Air Guitar to culture, we are to be it’s custodians; we are to make culture, pioneer it and define it: move beyond air guitar

New Blog

2008-05-31T03:00:00.000-07:00

It really doesn't take long to start up a new blog but it does take a serious amount of consideration to ask, 'Can I stick with it?" Time will tell, eh? So welcome to my new blog which offers reflections on the creative arts as seen through the lens of the Christian mind . If you're reading this blog, please do drop me a message to let me know.

Ally