Robert Kemp on Art

Robert Kemp on Art

I don't know if I blogged my ideas about art or journaled them, but many of my ideas are presented in this article. Kemp said "Non-believers might distort, mutilate and manipulate God’s revelation in their work, but I believe there will be some elements of truth conveyed." I thought of Jackson Pollack; there is no order, symmetry, or harmony. There is, as far as shapes and patterns and relationships are concerned, nothing of truth or beauty present or communicated in his art. And so what is left? Nothing but colors; all of which were created by God, and therefore speak something of God's nature and beauty and order, etc. So Pollack's art is as the old altars God mandated: no hands of man may shape and arrange the raw materials: all that is is what god made: and it will glorify me alone. So it is with Jackson Pollack: what is present and displayed in his art is nothing more than the many and splendid colors of God's creation; intermingled and unspoiled by shaping and carving. In this, God is glorified and Pollack has added nothing more; Pollock gets no credit. What is odd is that if a man were to bring in a rock, untouched by the mind or hands of man, and call it art, and get credit for, it the entire room would burst into laughter at the naked emporer.

And so even at the basest levels, God is glorified. Pollock may decide which direction to throw the paint, or how much or with how much force, but all that is expressed in the final product is the manifold colors of God's creation. And pollock should get only as much credit as the child who points out a rainbow, or who spills his paints on the floor.