A Different Kind of Art

A few days ago I spent some time talking with a musician/documentary filmmaker who is going about her "art" and music in a very different way than most artists in mainstream American culture. The conversation just calmed my spirit. Unlike so many artists, who I often feel are just "adding to the noise," this artist carried a certain peacefulness and respect for her subject matter that enthralled me. As I talked to her about her upcoming film, I was convinced that her art was exactly the kind of art that we need: art that encourages contemplation, art that doesn't give you all the answers but rather makes you think broadly about the world, and your place in it. This lady struck me as someone who is listening to the world, and taking the time to really contemplate the culture that she is depicting in her film, rather than simply exploiting them for the purpose of her project. She also struck me as someone who possessed wisdom. The film itself, as described, exuded a sense of "realness," a sense that she was working to depict what was real about her subject matter-that the community she was depicting was broken--broken because of environmental degradation, broken because of abject poverty, broken because of human selfishness. The community she was depicting was also beautiful, beautiful through the richness of its culture and people-people living and celebrating beauty through dancing and singing, women dressing in bright colors that exude a sense of charisma, children singing melodically in a united chorus.

This artist and I mused over the fact that many foreign cultures seem to have a deeper, fuller sense of community than most parts of America. It was an interesting discussion, one that we probably could have drawn out for several hours. So often, culture in America-as with art in America-is just full of so much "junk," voices screaming, people desperately reaching to be heard-to be known, to be loved-,voices that have not thought much before speaking. As the book of James says, "the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts." Many artists just blot out words onto the canvas, making great boasts, but do not really take the time to first listen, to consider, and to wait... Good art, in my opinion, is built on the art of contemplation-not merely self-contemplation, but contemplation of the broader world, and contemplation that is based in knowledge, wisdom, and truth. Such knowledge, though, is a knowledge we cannot, and do not possess on our own. It comes only from the giver of all good things, God Almighty. Good art, then, is art that speaks to the beauty and wisdom of God, moving and working in his creation for his glory and the furtherance of his kingdom.

"The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouth of the fool gushes folly."-Proverbs 15:2

As a friend and I remarked recently after a time of shallow conversations with people we had never met-people we wanted to go deeper but who didn't seem to want to go any deeper with us-, we grow weary of the small talk. We want to move beyond it into something real, tangible, meaningful. It is what we were created for. Not unsimilarly, the kind of art that I am discussing is not small talk; it is the heart and soul of a community put onto a canvas, of some sort or another. It is the artist, himself/herself, beautiful and broken before the world, softly, slowly speaking hints of the truth of humanity, creation, and the creator.

Right after discussing the subject of love, the author of 1 Corinthians 13 says the following:

"For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

The reflection is dim, but its getting brighter, and we're getting closer to the source with the work of such artists; such artists exude a sense of real, truthful love. The good artist is not a clanging cymbal or a resounding gong, but a beautiful expression of love. And such art makes us feel more alive, alive for the very fact that it brings us closer to the truth.