More Than Technique

I like talking to people on airplanes. You never have any idea who it is that might end up seated beside you for an hour or two. My temporary acquaintances have included a has-been 80s punk rocker who now paints houses in L.A., the CFO of Johnson & Johnson, a Vietnamese legal assistant for an immigration lawyer, and the manager of a Nike sock factory in Mexico City (he offered to ship me free socks). However, I think my favorite conversation was with a classically trained artist from Belgium who has spent the last several years as a celebrated part of the art community in Nashville, Tennessee. In fact, her work will be on display next year in Nashville's Parthenon, a very high honor.

We were talking about different philosophies of art, and she lamented how so much art is being created without any real passion or meaning the artist is trying to convey. I was surprised to learn from her how popular abstract art has become. She spoke with frustration about a mediocre student of hers who, within a few months of learning to paint, was selling abstract works for several thousand dollars each. People like abstract art because all they do is select a color scheme that matches their living space and the painting fits right in with no particular shapes or bodies that would cause it to stand out. Real art, she believed, should have something to say. Good art should not be expected merely to blend in, but to matter.

At the other end of the spectrum, we were talking about some of the artists I've seen on social media who can replicate real objects with such total perfection so that you could not distinguish whether you were looking at a photograph or a drawing. In her mind, this was more respectable, because it at least required skill. But in the end, "Though it's very impressive, it's just raw technique," she said. "Most of them aren't really saying anything with their work. It generally doesn't inspire or convict you." There is a need for artists to stay relevant so that their works are marketable, but she urged that an artist must not give up their true voice just to produce what would sell easily. They should care about what they produce.

All throughout Scripture we are reminded that our talents and skills come from God. We develop and refine them, but God gives them. I think of the wisdom of Joseph, received from God, in guiding Pharaoh to prepare Egypt for the coming famine and to grow their economy when all others were declining. I think of Bezalel in Exodus 31 who was filled with the Spirit of God "to make artistic designs." I think of Jesus' parable about the talents. Some of us are given more than others, but all of us are accountable to God, not only to have skills or to use skills, but to glorify God with our skills.

If you're going to be good at something, be sure that your talent means something. We each have our own forms of art, and our own gifts that someone might observe and say, "Isn't it amazing to watch them do what they can do?" It would be a shame to be gifted in powerful ways by the Almighty, and to only ever use these gifts for material gain or self aggrandizement. Be whatever kind of artist God has made you to be, but do something with your work that will make God proud that he chose to give you the abilities that you have.