FAITH AS AN IMAGE
FAITH INFORMATION
"God provides the wind, man must raise the sail." - Augustine.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF A CHRISTIAN WALL ART SITE?
FOUNDATION: Christianity throughout most of the centuries has been a leader in the creation of art especially to do with spiritual and Biblical subjects. It was the church leaders and cathedral builders who commissioned the Michelangelos, Raphaels and Donatellos, but after the so-called ‘Enlightenment’ period, the end of cathedral building and much of church influence in government, this has fallen away and is today comparatively non-existent.
The ‘modern church’, especially protestant and evangelical, has been rarely interested in the creative arts except perhaps music, thankfully. Attempts by well-meaning creative Christians to produce printed works with spiritual messages and intent have been more by graphic artists and publishing firms than anything to do with fine-art or ‘the church’. Browsing the catalogues of Christian book stores is evidence of this.
Parts of the secular world place huge emphasis on the value of art; from the purely investment aspect to almost worship at what they see as the power and high priority of art in their lives and in the potential of it in a humanistic and so-called ‘spiritual’ and life-affirming way. Whilst more in the reach of the wealthy, a look at high end real-estate images of interiors reveals large use and priority of original artworks on house and office walls and in people’s lives. And at the other end, posters of famous sports or pop stars will be found on walls in the suburbs.
Our God is at first a creator. Jesus created the largest artwork in history; He understands creativity in ways and depths unimaginable to us. Yet we Christians have either confined it to secular behaviour or, at best, concentrated on the creation of nature all around us and neglected largely the potential of the creative skills Jesus himself placed within all of our DNAs. We are all creative to an extent, those who discover their creativity is very strong and must be acted upon may be called ‘artists’; those who recognise that creativity itself was created and place this high in their life’s work, seek God to use it for ‘Kingdom Works’ and may be called ‘Christian artists’.
It is my belief, accompanied by this tiny contribution, that the Christian creative would love to see the church place a much higher priority upon their work and discover more understanding and better ways to use it as a powerful tool in Kingdom Works.
IMPACT: Creative works can reach out to the soul, they have the unique ability of bypassing the brain and its demands of logic, sense, meaning and order. Whether it be a visual artwork, an opera, music or poem our emotions, wills, thoughts character and very beliefs can be shaped, formed and modified by the power of impacts on the soul; more importantly this soul is a gateway to our personal spirits with which we experience things of God and which lies idle in most people.
THE WALL: Every home and work place has walls upon which things can be displayed and be seen by just ourselves or ourselves and friends or those whom we invite into this space or numerous strangers who pass through. The advertising world knows this and also includes other places such as freeway billboards etc. Despite various digital alternatives, walls, and their potential power are still present as ever and can convey a message via the medium which otherwise may not be possible. It is a tool to be exploited!
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF my art?
THE ART: I believe the serious Christ-follower wants nothing to do with pictures of cute kittens with smalzy scripture verses attached still being offered by some Christian outlets; we live in a world of challenges, need and imbalance; of personal suffering, greed and sin and injustice and where those offering some real hope not attached to a payment plan, very rare. There is evidence of God and life and purpose throughout the natural world; the character and creativity of our God is everywhere. Are they just for our delight or are they also a tool to be seen and used? If I have created by computer, some enhanced and not exact replica of nature I have seen all at once, the work will be identified as “composite”. I do not use any ai in my image creation.
“All the wilderness seems to be full of tricks and plans to drive and draw us up into God’s Light.”
John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra
THE MESSAGE: Whether it be image, text or both, the sum of my message is spiritual, real and sometimes directly scriptural but not always. The fact is a scripture quote can be out of context and irrelevant to many people. The message is intended to be a challenge or a proclamation, or a celebration; a starting point to discussion, a door opener, a question-maker, a declaration of belief, and/or a statement of yours [once displayed] which you proudly own and for all to see.
“In God’s world the individual counts. Therefore, Christian art should deal with the individual.”
Francis Schaeffer, Art & the Bible
INTENDED USES: My aim is that more than a pretty work is displayed on your wall:
* A piece of stunning impactful Christian-based art on your wall: you love it, identify with it, now let it be or let it be more.
* A visual piece which starts a conversation of soulful wealth that doesn’t normally happen.
* A piece of art with a debatable or ambiguous message that may differ in meaning for different viewers.
* An attraction. Please note the use of small fonts. The purpose is to deliberately encourage the guest viewer to move in for a close look and be trapped in beauty, impact, destination and enough subjectivity for conversation to be irresistible.
But first, it has to be on your wall!
WHAT ABOUT PRICES?
PURCHASE PRICE: My images are real and of the real natural world. They are of a quality and standard which regular commands 3 figure sums in the secular. They have taken decades of travel, hard work, financial cost and some discomfort to amass. They are printed on the best machines to the highest standards currently available. They are more expensive than Christians are used to, absurdly inexpensive for what they are: they are fineart. It is time we had Christian fineart on our walls. It’s time we used the finest wines for everyone’s blessing.
After the cost of production has been met ALL monies raised from the sale of these works go entirely to “Kingdom Works”. This term means the money is spent/given very wisely as [hopefully] guided by the Holy Spirit. This could mean sponsoring the unsaved to camps or programs where they will hear The Gospel, open acts of generosity through the church and in His name or buying Bibles for Christian schools in Africa.