So, you may be wondering why I just posted two random paintings. If you study art, you'll know just by looking at these two paintings that they aren't even from the same era of art. In fact, they aren't even painted with the same medium - nor by the same artist. The painting on the left is painted by a man named Vincent Van Gogh. He was a Dutch artist who led an extremely troubled life. He is probably most famously known for cutting off his ear in a fit of insanity and giving it to a prostitute he fell in love with. Vincent came from a poor family, studied to become a minister, and then found it wasn't for him. Many specialists say Van Gogh had a rare form of epilepsy, because he describes having hallucinations in letters to his brother. In his life, Van Gogh painting many beautiful paintings, paintings which were quite misunderstood until years and years after his death. Van Gogh was different when it came to impressionistic art, using heavy brush strokes and harsh coloring, something completely foreign to his friend, Claude Monet. One day, while painting in a field of a close friend's home, Van Gogh shot himself in the stomach in an attempted suicide. After shooting himself, he decided he wasn't ready to die, and crawled back to the home of his friend. Two days later, Van Gogh died of infection.
The painting on the right is by a man named Edgar Degas. Degas is a French painter, known to be the founder of impressionism, though he rejected the term and prefered to be called a realist. The majority of Degas' work is of dancers. He painted ballerinas, primarily with an obsession. The movement and the flow of their bodies fascinated him, and he would spend hours upon hours sketching and painting their images in dance studios. In fact, he painted so many dancers in so many different ways that when he grew older, and lost his vision, he could still paint the dancers almost as perfectly as he could before, just from motion memory in his hands. Although it is a fascinating story, as you can imagine, Degas was not only passionate about painting dancers, he was passionate about doing other things with them, too, and frequently slept with the young prima ballerinas he painted with such precision.
Though all of this information is awesome, and I have particularly enjoyed sharing it, my point is not to inform you of two particular paintings in which I love. I wanted to share with you some thoughts I've been having over the last few days.
If you know me, you know I love art. I love being an artist, and an observer of art, all kinds of art. It doesn't mean I like all kinds of art, but I love the whole idea of art in general. My reason for this is because the first person to ever love me in the entire world is the greatest artist of them all. God. In Genesis 1, the bible says
"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth"
I don't think God's declaration as an artist can be any clearer than that. In fact, I happen to believe that God is the greatest artist of all, in that He is not only a creator, but the creator of creators. What I mean by that, is that God created people, His beloved to also be creators. In Genesis, it says
"So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female, He created them"
God instilled in man his own attribute - creativity, innovation, artistry, and I think it's simply foolish of us as Christians to ignore creation, and artistry, and innovation, and all the things that tie into being little mini creators. God created us to be creators - and as a result we get Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh and Dancers in Pink by Edgar Degas. Granted, these men were not necessarily the most pious of individuals, but nevertheless, they were creators.
I think that God is everywhere - no, I KNOW that God is everywhere, and some places that I see God in very pronounced and obvious ways are in the arts...maybe that's just because I love art, but either way, He's there, and I see Him. So what I'm going to do for the next few days is post blogs involving different aspects of God's creation creating creation (confusing, huh?). For me, when I look at paintings like Starry Night, I know that God is near - He's here, and not only is He here now, He was here then, calling and beckoning and loving those who do not know Him. He dwells in paintings, songs, poetry, and pottery. He dwells in dance and architecture, graphic design, photography. All we're doing as artists is attempting to recreate what He first created. We are the synthesizers of humanity. So, starting tomorrow, I'm going to call on a creation appreciation week. Get ready! You'll be seeing some pretty amazing creation going down.
The painting on the right is by a man named Edgar Degas. Degas is a French painter, known to be the founder of impressionism, though he rejected the term and prefered to be called a realist. The majority of Degas' work is of dancers. He painted ballerinas, primarily with an obsession. The movement and the flow of their bodies fascinated him, and he would spend hours upon hours sketching and painting their images in dance studios. In fact, he painted so many dancers in so many different ways that when he grew older, and lost his vision, he could still paint the dancers almost as perfectly as he could before, just from motion memory in his hands. Although it is a fascinating story, as you can imagine, Degas was not only passionate about painting dancers, he was passionate about doing other things with them, too, and frequently slept with the young prima ballerinas he painted with such precision.
Though all of this information is awesome, and I have particularly enjoyed sharing it, my point is not to inform you of two particular paintings in which I love. I wanted to share with you some thoughts I've been having over the last few days.
If you know me, you know I love art. I love being an artist, and an observer of art, all kinds of art. It doesn't mean I like all kinds of art, but I love the whole idea of art in general. My reason for this is because the first person to ever love me in the entire world is the greatest artist of them all. God. In Genesis 1, the bible says
"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth"
I don't think God's declaration as an artist can be any clearer than that. In fact, I happen to believe that God is the greatest artist of all, in that He is not only a creator, but the creator of creators. What I mean by that, is that God created people, His beloved to also be creators. In Genesis, it says
"So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female, He created them"
God instilled in man his own attribute - creativity, innovation, artistry, and I think it's simply foolish of us as Christians to ignore creation, and artistry, and innovation, and all the things that tie into being little mini creators. God created us to be creators - and as a result we get Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh and Dancers in Pink by Edgar Degas. Granted, these men were not necessarily the most pious of individuals, but nevertheless, they were creators.
I think that God is everywhere - no, I KNOW that God is everywhere, and some places that I see God in very pronounced and obvious ways are in the arts...maybe that's just because I love art, but either way, He's there, and I see Him. So what I'm going to do for the next few days is post blogs involving different aspects of God's creation creating creation (confusing, huh?). For me, when I look at paintings like Starry Night, I know that God is near - He's here, and not only is He here now, He was here then, calling and beckoning and loving those who do not know Him. He dwells in paintings, songs, poetry, and pottery. He dwells in dance and architecture, graphic design, photography. All we're doing as artists is attempting to recreate what He first created. We are the synthesizers of humanity. So, starting tomorrow, I'm going to call on a creation appreciation week. Get ready! You'll be seeing some pretty amazing creation going down.
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