I am still slowly but surely making my way through Nancy Pearcey's Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, & Meaning. I feel I've learned a lot about myself, the culture I live in, and the philosophies that have led up to today through reading this book. It's been much like taking an Art History and Philosophy course from a biblical perspective and I am very thankful for Pearcey's work. I have felt encouraged to think more deeply about the arts and what artists of all kinds (painters, writers, composers, directors, etc.) have sought to convey through their work. Pearcey calls Christians to take seriously the impact art has on people's minds and souls.
Even though I've always been interested in art and creativity, I actually haven't taken it as seriously as I should. I've tended to think that I am untouchable in some ways (probably even moreso than I realize). I may recognize things about the world/culture/society I live in, yet somehow I've thought that those things don't really affect me. As if somehow my mind, my being, could resist enculturation. Yes, I am that naive. As I've been reading more though, I have been recognizing those things in myself that come from the society around me. Some of these parts of myself need to be changed by the Holy Spirit completely, other parts need to be refashioned to be more Christ-centered. This is part of the Christian life, being called out of our mindsets and ways of life into a new way of seeing. I admit it scares me in some ways. I don't like being uncomfortable, and learning to move forward into new territory is uncomfortable. Yet it is necessary and I will proceed even though I'm afraid.
Here's a section from Saving Leonardo that I just read this morning:
"Fujimura and Bomer
Clearly artists like Rothko were struggling with ideas that have life-and-death consequences--ideas they were willing to stake their lives on. We must never treat worldview analysis simply as a way to slap a label on a work of art and pigeonhole it into some neat schema. Historically, artists were not just making pretty pictures but were wrestling with profound questions about life--not through words but through color, texture, tone, and composition. Art is a visual language, and Christians have a responsibility to learn that language.
All worldviews contain some grains of truth, simply because all people are made in God's image and live in God's world. Christians are called to identify what is good, and pour it into biblical wineskins (to adapt Jesus' metaphor). This explains why Christian artists are able to employ many of the same stylistic elements as secular artists--taking what is true and pouring it into the much richer, fuller wineskin of a biblical worldview.
Among contemporary Christian artists, one of the best known is New York City painter Makoto Fujimura who merges abstract and expressionism with an ancient Japanese technique called nihonga. In lieu of paint, Fujimura uses ground-up precious stones--gold leaf, lapis, and malachite. The results are works of shimmering color that communicate a sense of grace and hope. I am honored to say that Philadelphia Biblical University (where I have served as a research professor) was the first Christian institution to commission a painting by Fujimura. Many evangelicals are suspicious of any art that is non-representational. But Fujimura responds, 'Shall we be suspicious of fireworks spreading their abstraction over a summer sky? Or wave patterns created on the sand? What about classical music, or jazz? Life is full of abstraction.' To paint abstract pattern is to paint from life.
Asheville artist Carol Bomer combines elements of both abstraction and realism. 'I believe that the Incarnation explains and resolves all dichotomies of artistic imaginative work,' Bomer says, citing Colossians 1:18 ('in him, all things hold together'). 'Christ is both God and man, Spirit and flesh, as well as Word and image. Through Christ and his Word, I attempt to join the tangible world and the spiritual world apprehended through the eyes of faith.' Thus she seeks to overcome 'the perceived dichotomy between abstraction and realism, form and content, and representation and non-representation.'
Bomer uses collage to juxtapose text and image, alluding to Christ as the Word made flesh. Weep for the Wiping of Grace, from her Prodigal Series, uses an architectural blueprint as background, which is meant to recall the Scriptural principle that we look forward to the city 'whose architect and builder is God' (Heb. 11:10). From this heavenly home, grace descends to the body of the prodigal, who is curled up like a buried seed. The prodigal is following Christ, who descended into the darkness of the earth for us, thus fulfilling his own metaphor of the seed that must fall to the ground and die in order to produce fruit (John 12:24)."
- Nancy Pearcey
from: http://www.amazon.com/Saving-Leonardo-Secular-Assault-Meaning/dp/1433669277/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1336494703&sr=1-1
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