Last week, I sat through a lecture on Christianity and art. The guy started out by defining art as “Skilled human creativity that reflects God’s truth and God’s beauty.” The point was that art should glorify God through order, beauty, and good content. In an ideal world I suppose all those thing would be included in art, but for now I think we should work with a more objective definition. Otherwise you could say Jackson Pollock should have been painting French gardens. I venture to restate my view of art:
Creativity that effectively communicates a concept or sentiment held by the artist.
It is important to understant the nature of creativity. First, creation is always original, and so is great art. Second, creation is a physical expression of the creator’s nature. If the creator is ordered, beautiful and good, the art will reflect that. If he is lost and confused, then that’s what will show. It doesn’t matter whether or not it took skills to splatter paint on a canvas. The skill lies in articulating a thought in a way that speaks to the viewer. We were made creators. Even lost people can glorify God through that.
