What does our art say? I thought this was an interesting question that kept circling in my mind this week. In the book “It was Good Making Art to the Glory of God” by Luci Shaw, the author details how past paintings were created to scare people and to control them. One example she gave was The last Judgement Altarpiece by Rogier van der Weyden. The piece itself reminded the audience of the two eternal options that awaited them, either heaven or hell. This particular art piece was displayed in the hospital where the sick were dying. Placing an image of this nature in a room that was housing the ill seemed wrong, especially since most were on their death beds. The artwork became the drive to push people to think about what awaited them; heaven or hell.
This made me question the art / design work I have created in the past, as well as the work that my classmates have created, and the role our creations have on whether or not it becomes a positive or negative on a person. Does the artwork that is made today still have a contro over people’s emotions, pushing them to change things in their own life?
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As creators, we know that art can push the boundaries that creates a space for audiences to think or to talk about current events, but does art / design go too far that it becomes wrong? I also think about the role of a room and how it is used, or by whom it is used by and what a person would need the room to become in order to be used as much as possible, to be a relaxing space and overall successful.
Art can, and has, gone far in making the audience upset, uncomfortable, and fearful of what is to come. As creators we think ahead of the message we are trying to get across to the public. This can be anything from information, selling, shining light on a current topic.
Shaw states “It is not the believers goal to integrate their art with the faith, but rather the art of God’s chosen people must spring from faith.”
Can this be too much when the artwork is being used to scare the sick? How is this showing any faith when it appears to emphasize fear rather than compassion. The God that is being depicted does not seem to show love or compassion. This also makes me wonder whether or not art pieces that depict God in a manner that is terrifying, pleases Him. Does God see the artwork from the past that used people at their weakest and see that as ‘ok’?
