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Importance of art in society
Why art is important for christian religions
Importance of art in society
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Steve Turner’s “Imagine” is a compelling book that urges Christians to view the arts in an unprecedented way. He challenges commonplace belief that “Christian artists” should only create for “Christian audiences.” Turner confronts the idea that most “churched” people uphold an ideology that our talents are to be confined to church walls. Meanwhile, it is more often the case that an artist would have better reach if their audience were secular. Turner forms his argument that “Christians should be writing poetry infused with godly perception rather than poetry about religion.” (28) Turner invites his reader to look past religion and deep into the heart of why the arts exist in the first place.
Furthermore, Turner presents many challenges to his
Rodin borrowed his theme from Michelangelo and in turn, Monkman borrowed from Rodin; uniting a Ceiling Fresco, to a Sculpture, to a Painting on display in a modern day Gallery. The ‘idea’ is what endures through time, although the method of delivery or medium may be very different. Monkman’s painting, “The Academy”, uses this idea in a cheeky and unexpected way as commentary on Aboriginal social issues. This whimsical approach to serious matters endears Monkman to his viewers, which is likely a major reason for commissioning this piece at the Art Gallery of Ontario.
1. Nick Paumgarten, the writer of “We Are a Camera”, brings a few flaws of the GoPro to light. A few of these flaws are in the tedious design, but one major risks of the GoPro are the intent of what it’s commonly used for and the people using the GoPro. In the design of the GoPro Paumgarten explains, “It has no display, so you can’t see what’s in the frame.” (332) This could be annoying because the user may need some experience with the GoPro camera lens to know how broad the vision is on the device.
Berry points out that art comes does not birth something new rather “...it begins in other arts, in attitudes and ideas antecedent to any art, in nature, and in inspiration” (Berry 305). He also discusses how art should be used to bring glory to God.
In the essay “Everything Now” Signs of Life in the USA: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers, author Steve McKevitt blames our unhappiness on having everything we need and want, given to us now. While his writing is compelling, he changes his main point as his conclusion doesn’t match his introduction. He uses “want versus need” (145) as a main point, but doesn’t agree what needs or wants are, and uses a psychological theory that is criticized for being simplistic and incomplete. McKevitt’s use of humor later in the essay doesn’t fit with the subject of the article and comes across almost satirical. Ultimately, this essay is ineffective because the author’s main point is inconsistent and poorly conveyed.
Before you begin reading this paper, look through the appendix. Are you shocked? Disgusted? Intrigued? Viewers of such controversial artwork often experience a wide spectrum of reactions ranging from the petrified to the pleased. Questions may arise within the viewer regarding the artistic merit and legitimacy of this unorthodox artwork. However, art's primary purpose, according to Maya Angelou, “is to serve humanity. Art that does not increase our understanding of this particular journey or our ability to withstand this particular journey, which is life, is an exercise in futile indulgence” (Buchwalter 27). To expand on Angelou's analogy, because everyone experiences a different life journey, art is different to everyone. In other words, art is subjective to the viewer. The viewer creates his own definition of what is art and what is not art. Some may recognize the artistic value of a piece of artwork, while others may find it obscene. Some may praise the artwork, while others will protest it. Censorship is derived from these differing perspectives on artwork. Through censorship, communities seek to establish boundaries and criteria that limit an artist's ability to produce “proper” artwork. However, some artists choose to ignore these boundaries in order to expand the scope of art and, in their view, better serve humanity.
Books, movies, and short stories can have a meaning that impact and challenge not only how the audience views the world but also themselves and their faith. The short stories “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guin, “The Star” by Arthur C. Clarke, and “Zaabalawi” by Naguib Mahfouz examine the reality and reason for evil and suffering in the world along with challenging how we as humans, and specifically as Christians, strive in the face of evil in the world.
Overall, O’Connor use of religious symbols as a literary device has conveyed the message to readers of Christianity and God’s grace. Critics have viewed her work as possessing thought-provoking and deep messages. It is clear that O’Connor attempted to accommodate readers of Christian faith and non-Christian faiths buy painting a picture in a way that most everyone could understand. Her lack of secular censoring in her work along with the vivid characters has helped give new points of view on grace, crime and religion.
Many authors add personal beliefs and feelings to their literature in order to add depth and allow the reader to understand them in a more intimate way. Christina Rossetti was no different. She added her religious beliefs. Her beliefs were an important piece of her life. Christina Rossetti’s poem “Goblin Market” is an autobiographical view that represents her religious beliefs. She added her religious views to her work in order to strengthen her poem and to allow her reader to understand her. Her beliefs come from a shared religious experience with her mother. These religious experiences stem from Judeo-Christian origins. Looking at the past of Rossetti with an analytical view of her poem will help to fully understand the depth at which Rossetti wrote her poem. Her choice of imagery, selection of vocabulary and her main theme all originate from her faith and her dedication to it.
On the surface David Ives’ “Sure Thing” is a play about two strangers who meet, fall in love and live happily ever after. When analyzed in more depth, the play is actually about the struggle that exists between one’s desire to be an individual and the need to conform, to a certain degree, in order to be part of a couple. The play exposes and discusses the tension that exists between the value of being an individual and value associated with being in love. Love holds the promise that you will always having someone there for you and that you will always have someone to share everything with. However, to realize this love one has to make sacrifices in the process and potentially change who they are.
Although Joyce rejected Catholic beliefs, the influence of his early training and education is pervasive in his work. The parallels between Biblical text and The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man are abundant. As Cranly says to Stephen, "It is a curious thing, do you know, how your mind is supersaturated with the religion in which you say you disbelieve" (232).
One of my long-standing philosophical ‘worries’ is what I describe as a ‘cognitive dilemma’ in relation to musical communication. How can an art form which lacks a discursive element and addresses itself primarily and indeed immediately to the auditory sense, be discerned as conveying ‘truth’ or ‘profundity’? The power is amply attested — so much so that alone among the arts music occasionally figures as a ‘surrogate religion’. The pieces of this kaleidoscope — ideas culled from Schopenhauer, Langer, Jung and others — did not fall together until recently after reading Peter Kivy’s Music Alone, an account of his quest for musical profundity which ends (as he confessed) in failure, but from whose dissection of the presuppositions I gained a platform for a synthesis of my own.
The censorship of art was a common occurrence during the time of the reformation, and can still be seen in modern times. Strong emotions towards art can create a push people to protect or destroy work. Most works are meant to elicit some form of emotion, be it love or hate . David Freedberg is an author who looks at people’s relationship with art. In David Freedberg’s The Fear of Art: How Censorship Becomes Iconoclasm, Freedberg evaluates how the destruction of artworks can give hints at the historical use and function of the art piece and how people interacted with it. This review will discuss how Freedberg tackled the psychological response of the viewer, and the social and religious impacts leading to iconoclasm. While there is scholarship on iconoclasm, Freedberg brings Northern Renaissance and modern events such as the one’s involving the Bamiyan Buddhas and the iconoclasm of Murray’s The Spear of Africa together, as well as discusses the censorship of the artworks and the possible causes.
The world we live in today creates the possibility of defining ourselves almost obsolete. Left and right of everywhere we look portrays the ideas of hatred and despair. Therefore, painting the theories of that is the way to live in the heads of everyone. Dark grey skies appear amongst us showing the idea that there is no light in the midst of a dark tunnel. The question asking, “What is a Christian?” or “Who is God?” often come up amongst these troubled times. Reflecting on this automatically produces a ray of light upon the darkened world around us. The reassurance of knowing that there is a greater good outside of the shadows of hate that surrounds the world is a thought that no one should ever experience on their own.
"Art has the power of liberating man from certain drudgeries and their way of life. A man who was born in the ghetto can't afford to be a Sunday painter, his whole life is involved in getting across his ideas; Rastafarianism, politics, Black culture and all that. Even our meeting here now is an artistic involvement. Some people do art with love here, politics there and so forth; now, to me art is one cosmic consciousness. The way you love, live, and even the way you hate: even your negative expressions connote a certain art-form. So I really do not separate my art from my other sphere of life."-Ras"T"(Barrett,187)
Reverend Father Gerard Manley Hopkins was English poet from the Victorian Age. He became critically acclaimed after his death, and his fame was grounded mainly from his use of imagery in his poems, given that he was from a period of highly traditional writing. Hopkins’ religious poems featured ones that were “light” and ones that were “dark”, which he used to exemplify his conflict between faith and doubt. “God’s Grandeur” is one of his light poems, and “I wake and feel the fell of dark, not day” is one of his dark poems, and a comparison between the two will show just how strong his conflict really was.