Comments on: What Art is not http://online.worldmag.com/2008/10/01/what-art-is-not/ A forum for discussion of news that arises at the intersection of Christianity and culture. Mon, 22 Mar 2010 11:59:03 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: chalzz http://online.worldmag.com/2008/10/01/what-art-is-not/comment-page-1/#comment-352285 chalzz Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:55:35 +0000 http://online.worldmag.com/?p=17557#comment-352285 Art is also becoming a vital base of our economy. Any community I drive through today it seems is full of art studio's selling their goods where other businesses once stood. Our GNP seems to becoming more reliant on art as a source of income as our institutions pump out more and more art and theater degrees and less and less vocational degrees. Art is also becoming a vital base of our economy. Any community I drive through today it seems is full of art studio’s selling their goods where other businesses once stood. Our GNP seems to becoming more reliant on art as a source of income as our institutions pump out more and more art and theater degrees and less and less vocational degrees.

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]]> By: Joel Mark http://online.worldmag.com/2008/10/01/what-art-is-not/comment-page-1/#comment-351739 Joel Mark Wed, 01 Oct 2008 23:20:17 +0000 http://online.worldmag.com/?p=17557#comment-351739 ART: <b>The creative investment of various media with skill, knowledge and talent to compose an aesthetically valuable work of beauty and/or truth. ART: The creative investment of various media with skill, knowledge and talent to compose an aesthetically valuable work of beauty and/or truth.

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]]> By: Joel Mark http://online.worldmag.com/2008/10/01/what-art-is-not/comment-page-1/#comment-351738 Joel Mark Wed, 01 Oct 2008 23:17:46 +0000 http://online.worldmag.com/?p=17557#comment-351738 BEAUTY COMES FROM GOD! Exodus 31. Bezalel was “...filled with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts--to make artistic designs.” BEAUTY IS TIMELY! Eccl. 3:11. “He has made all things beautiful in its time.” BEAUTY IS VAIN! Proverbs 31:30. “Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord shall be praised.” Proverbs 11:22. “Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion.” BEAUTY IS FLEETING: James 1:11. Like a blossoming plant. BEAUTY IS SEDUCTIVE: Songs 7:6 “How beautiful you are and how pleasing,” BEAUTY IS USEFUL AND PURPOSEFUL: Esther‘s beauty was part of the means God used to put Esther in the right place and the right time to preserve His people. BEAUTY IS DEEP: 1 Peter 3:5. “...holy women of the past made themselves beautiful be cultivating the inner qualities of modesty and submission.” BEAUTY IS EXPENSIVE: Matthew 26:10. “She did a beautiful thing.” BEAUTY IS A GIFT: Ezekiel 20:15. The promised land, flowing with milk and honey, was a “most beautiful of all lands.” (20:15). BEAUTY IS DECEPTIVE: Matthew 23:27. Jesus described Pharisees saying “You are like white-washed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones.” BEAUTY IS RATIONAL (or worth thinking about): “Whatsoever things are... lovely... think on such things.” Philippians 4:8. BEAUTY COMES FROM GOD! Exodus 31. Bezalel was “…filled with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts–to make artistic designs.”

BEAUTY IS TIMELY! Eccl. 3:11. “He has made all things beautiful in its time.”

BEAUTY IS VAIN! Proverbs 31:30. “Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord shall be praised.” Proverbs 11:22. “Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion.”

BEAUTY IS FLEETING: James 1:11. Like a blossoming plant.

BEAUTY IS SEDUCTIVE: Songs 7:6 “How beautiful you are and how pleasing,”

BEAUTY IS USEFUL AND PURPOSEFUL: Esther‘s beauty was part of the means God used to put Esther in the right place and the right time to preserve His people.

BEAUTY IS DEEP: 1 Peter 3:5. “…holy women of the past made themselves beautiful be cultivating the inner qualities of modesty and submission.”

BEAUTY IS EXPENSIVE: Matthew 26:10. “She did a beautiful thing.”

BEAUTY IS A GIFT: Ezekiel 20:15. The promised land, flowing with milk and honey, was a “most beautiful of all lands.” (20:15).

BEAUTY IS DECEPTIVE: Matthew 23:27. Jesus described Pharisees saying “You are like white-washed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones.”

BEAUTY IS RATIONAL (or worth thinking about): “Whatsoever things are… lovely… think on such things.” Philippians 4:8.

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]]> By: Joel Mark http://online.worldmag.com/2008/10/01/what-art-is-not/comment-page-1/#comment-351737 Joel Mark Wed, 01 Oct 2008 23:15:12 +0000 http://online.worldmag.com/?p=17557#comment-351737 In 1948, Barrett Newman said, “The impulse of modern art is the desire to destroy beauty.” The motto for many beauty-crushers in the modern art community was “April is the cruelest month of all.” More recently, performance artist Vanessa Beecroft said, “I tell you I would not, I do not trust beauty, it is an invention and a lie.” (from a performance she called, “Scenes from an Execution”). The critic Mario Vargas Llosa chimed in, “Contemporary aesthetics has established the beauty of ugliness.” Such twists as these are not new. The prophet Isaiah, in his song of the vineyard, warned; “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” (Isaiah 5:20). In 1948, Barrett Newman said, “The impulse of modern art is the desire to destroy beauty.” The motto for many beauty-crushers in the modern art community was “April is the cruelest month of all.” More recently, performance artist Vanessa Beecroft said, “I tell you I would not, I do not trust beauty, it is an invention and a lie.” (from a performance she called, “Scenes from an Execution”). The critic Mario Vargas Llosa chimed in, “Contemporary aesthetics has established the beauty of ugliness.”

Such twists as these are not new. The prophet Isaiah, in his song of the vineyard, warned; “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” (Isaiah 5:20).

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]]> By: Joel Mark http://online.worldmag.com/2008/10/01/what-art-is-not/comment-page-1/#comment-351736 Joel Mark Wed, 01 Oct 2008 23:13:45 +0000 http://online.worldmag.com/?p=17557#comment-351736 Scripture tells of a woman who anointed Jesus with expensive perfume. Jesus said, “she has done a beautiful thing...” (Matthew 26:10). The beauty of her deed, however, was not found in the “eyes” (or 'beholders') of Jesus’ disciples. They beheld it as a waste of money. To Jesus, her deed was beautiful, regardless of the malfunctioning aesthetic eyes of the disciples. Thus, I am not convinced by the old adage: "Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder." What the disciples could NOT behold as beautiful, Jesus affirms as beautiful in spite of the clueless disciples. So some things are beautiful in and of themselves. We have Jesus' word on that. Scripture tells of a woman who anointed Jesus with expensive perfume. Jesus said, “she has done a beautiful thing…” (Matthew 26:10).

The beauty of her deed, however, was not found in the “eyes” (or ‘beholders’) of Jesus’ disciples. They beheld it as a waste of money. To Jesus, her deed was beautiful, regardless of the malfunctioning aesthetic eyes of the disciples.

Thus, I am not convinced by the old adage: “Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.” What the disciples could NOT behold as beautiful, Jesus affirms as beautiful in spite of the clueless disciples. So some things are beautiful in and of themselves. We have Jesus’ word on that.

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]]> By: Make it Man http://online.worldmag.com/2008/10/01/what-art-is-not/comment-page-1/#comment-351603 Make it Man Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:41:07 +0000 http://online.worldmag.com/?p=17557#comment-351603 <i>"The museums and galleries are full of so much work that means nothing without an accompanying essay or artist talk to explain it to the laity."</i> I just read an article about Winslow Homer in the Smithsonian magazine. He was always furious if were necessary for him to explain his work. He didn't want to paint anything that wasn't self explanatory. While his lack of social etiquette makes me uncomfortable, I admire his work ethic, his attitude about art, and his artistic expression, and his art. I don't give a fig for work that needs a thesis paper to explain it. Keep it.... <i>and</i> your snotty attitude about my lack of culture. “The museums and galleries are full of so much work that means nothing without an accompanying essay or artist talk to explain it to the laity.”

I just read an article about Winslow Homer in the Smithsonian magazine. He was always furious if were necessary for him to explain his work. He didn’t want to paint anything that wasn’t self explanatory. While his lack of social etiquette makes me uncomfortable, I admire his work ethic, his attitude about art, and his artistic expression, and his art.

I don’t give a fig for work that needs a thesis paper to explain it. Keep it…. and your snotty attitude about my lack of culture.

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]]> By: Decrease http://online.worldmag.com/2008/10/01/what-art-is-not/comment-page-1/#comment-351565 Decrease Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:21:37 +0000 http://online.worldmag.com/?p=17557#comment-351565 Can you have a sense of beauty without religion? That has been a philosophical question by philosophers of all stripes and asked countless times in the last couple of centuries. Can you have a sense of beauty without religion? That has been a philosophical question by philosophers of all stripes and asked countless times in the last couple of centuries.

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