First it might be helpful to explain where I am coming from theologically should it not be obvious. I would describe myself as a conservative evangelical - I think my theology is orthodox but one of my artist friends with whom I exhibit says my ideas are “a bit odd”! I will leave you to decide.

I would say that God loves the sinner but hates the sin. I use the word ‘hate’ intentionally. It is much much stronger than the weeping suggested by the minister you refered to. I think wrath is the appropriate word. The New Bible Dictionary defines wrath as “The permanent attitude of the holy and just God when confronted by sin and evil is designated his ‘wrath’”. And then: “It is a personal quality, without which God would cease to be fully righteous and his love would degenerate into sentimentality”.

I think it is right that we as artists should point to the wonders of this world that God has created, to his love for us and to the ways in which we reflect his love to one another. However I think that it is also the role of the Christian artist (should they be so inspired) to highlight the inequalities and injustices of this world and to challenge people to respond - repentance, sacrificial giving, social action, prayer ….. Personally I don’t feel that the serious artist should be engaged in producing ‘pretty’ work unless it is essential to earn a crust and even then it should be done in such a way that it doesn’t compromise them.

Regarding inspiration of the artist by the Holy Spirit - I have been struggling with this. Where I have arrived is that other Christians who view the work should exercise discernment - in a similar way to which the Church is expected to discern whether or not a tongue or a prophecy is from God.

Here is a section of commentary on 1 Corinthians 12: “If we have any knowledge of the truth, or any power to make it known, we must give all the glory of God. The greater the gifts are, the more the possessor is exposed to temptations, and the larger is the measure of grace needed to keep him humble and spiritual; and he will meet with more painful experiences and humbling dispensations. We have little cause to glory in any gifts bestowed on us, or to despise those who have them not”.

I hope this is helpful.
Best wishes,
Jo

Thanks for your thought provoking reply. It has kept me thinking and clarifying what in my faith and painting I can truly stand by. I am a person who through my experience of faith has settled upon an incongruent freedom within it and I do appreciate that this sometimes sits uneasily with traditional Christian thinking and indeed my own. As my spiritual director once said ‘you could nail your colours firmly to the fence’! I hope in writing my thoughts down I have not sounded infallible for quiet the reverse is true – my relationship with God is a constant river of questions and babbling of working outs!

I once read a book that said that everything we do regardless of good intention is entirely selfish. Initially I was angry at this but came to the understanding that this was indeed true for all of us. By ‘Integrity’ I mean looking with a naked truth at intention as an equal failure in stepping truly outside of my social conditioning etc to love unconditionally. Understanding that each human being is a product of history, social influence and culture to name but a few for me is an integral part of understanding that part of others and me that I can strive to love unconditionally. The part that Christ died for and gave us such a humbling example. I know that whilst I do not achieve this that striving to see the humanity that Christ died for is important be it aesthetically beautiful or not. We are indeed called to mourn but rather our shortfall in embracing love than in sadness at perceived sin. A minister once pictured Gods view of sin for me by saying they saw it less as condemnation and more as a weeping. I find that when painting these are the themes that are on my heart.

Whichever way I look at it I can’t see how it is wrong to claim to be led by the Holy Spirit? Would you expand a bit on that for me? When I paint I experience a ‘bliss’ that is only a kin to meditation /spiritual experiences I have in other ways. My constant prayer and drive is to make my highly inadequate skill adequate to reflect what God wants me to. It is the reason I strive to create something better than myself. Although on one of my earlier exhibitions I felt the normal prayer, offering to God of my pieces could be bypassed and that my own skill would be enough – how wrong I was! Let us just say it was painted over after much prayer and humbling thought! I believe the Holy Spirit through Gods grace lives in me constantly and that when I remember this and acknowledge that I am led by God? This certainly does not mean that it has to be perfection however it does mean, for me, that I must strive with the afore mentioned integrity.

I think it is my job ,I cannot speak for other artists, to paint were I am led by the Holy spirit and to find the truth, integrity , Love or beauty – call it what you will in what ever or wherever that leads me. Aesthetic beauty is just another point of view as is the more commercial ‘pretty’! At this point it is worth pointing out that I found your work even before joining veritasse to be a refreshing view point and aesthetically pleasing in my opinion!!

Thank you for your thought and for challenging my babbling opinion! I look forward to you reply

Much love
becky

I think one needs to be cautious about claiming one’s work to be led by the Holy Spirit as that would make any criticism of it heretical! I do hope and believe that my work is inspired by the Holy Spirit in terms of the themes I follow - but I am also aware that some of my work is only fit for the bin. That’s my fault not Gods’ fault.

I would give up your battle to produce ‘pretty’ pictures. ‘Pretty’ is defined as ‘Beautiful in a dimunitive or trivial way’. Surely that’s not what an artist should be about.

Christians are called to love - they are also called to mourn - mourn for a world and humanity despoiled by sin. Today, Good Friday, is a reminder of that. Blessed are they that mourn. I don’t understand your comment that ‘In looking with integrity through eyes that truly love it is difficult to understand what beauty isn’t’. Many of our brothers and sisters in Christ in various countries around the world are being persecuted for their faith - isn’t this a legitimate subject for the artist who is a Christian? Where is the beauty in it?

Raising awareness, challenging, informing, prompting concern, grief, repentence - these are all subject areas that we should not shy away from. Then there are the times of dryness or desolation or bewilderment and anger. The Psalms are wonderful poems, the Psamists use words and phrases to technical perfection; the Psalms are beautiful in that sense (we can liken this to the visual artist’s skills with colour and technique)- but the subject matter of the Psalms ranges from fulness of praise to cries of desolation: “Eli Eli lema sabachthani” (Psalm 22:1).

So, sorry, I find myself disagreeing with much of what you have written. But I don’t claim infalibility! And I too, at times, falteringly try to reflect a little of the beauty of God’s wonderful creation in my own work.

Best wishes,
Jo

Sometimes collective ideas of beauty are iniquitous, as with ’size zero’ in the fashion industry and the way in which that perception of beauty pressurises people into anorexia and bulimia.

One of the fascinating things about contemporary art is the way in which it often finds beauty in the throw-away, the ready-made, the hidden or disregarded e.g. Martin Creed’s Work No. 88 - a crumpled ball of paper. In a culture of detritus, “American Beauty” screenwriter Alan Ball uncovers heartbreaking beauty in garbage with a scene in which a crummy old plastic bag floats in the wind above a dirty sidewalk.

My friend, Alan Stewart, in his ‘Icons or Eyesores’ presentation on spirituality in contemporary art shows people a photo of a sepia-tinged crucifix. Most people quite like it until they are told that it is ‘Piss Christ’ by Andres Serrano and that the crucifix is submerged in the artist’s urine. Serrano has said that the image is about the commercialisation of religious iconography (a critique of Christian kitsch!) but Alan sees it as a depiction of the incarnation, with God coming into the detritus and waste of human life, and that, it seems to me, is profoundly beautiful.

I agree with Kathy that the crucifixion and the resurrection need equal focus. To concentrate on one and ignore the other is a dangerous road to go down.

Maybe our tendency to cover over the crucifixion comes in part from the tendency of our culture to avoid talking about death at all costs. (This is true in the UK, but may be different in other countries.) Newspapers report the facts surrounding deaths in graphic detail, but you try talking to someone on a personal level about death and what it means and you are in a completely different territory. Death for many people is the ultimate ugliness- and definitely not the subject for art!