Awesome Christian Artists

Jon Del Arroz is posting in support of John Wright's crusade, and decided to highlight nine christian artists he thought worth supporting in the fields of writing, comics, and music. Looking at the list, I realize that I only recognize three of the names. Now, three I don't recognize are in comics, which I'm not as familiar with, but not only had I not heard of Nadine Brandes under writers, but the only musician I had heard of, in passing, was Dashboard Confessional.

I can wholeheartedly recommend anything and everything I've read by John C Wright, and having read Nethereal and just finished Souldancer I will also strongly recommend reading those two as well, as well as trying anything else by Brian Niemeier. The cosmology, the characters, the totally off the rails mashup of magic, technology, and horror of the series is utterly amazing.

Looks like I'm going to be digging into a bit more music.

Art and Communication

Over at Return of Kings there's an outstanding article on why modern art is so uninspiring. It digs into several sources, notably Tom Wolfe:

What I saw before me was the critic-in-chief of The New York Times saying: In looking at a painting today, “to lack a persuasive theory is to lack something crucial.” I read it again. It didn’t say “something helpful” or “enriching” or even “extremely valuable.” No, the word was crucial.

In short: frankly, these days, without a theory to go with it, I can’t see a painting.

Go read it.

I believe I've brought it up before but it bears repeating: I am reminded of a scene from a Baen book I read a while back - Guns of Two Space - where attending a party on earth, one of the crew goes off on the "artists" present.

Skill and craft were addressed, notably the lack thereof in many works - and I agree that more detail/work isn't always emblematic of craft (note the story of Giotto drawing a perfect circle to demonstrate his skill as an artist).

The point of "you just don't get it" - also brought up in the post - was also addressed.

Basically, if part of what art is supposed to do is communicate, that accusation is an admission that the art is FAILING to communicate, except to the very few who study all the theorems needed to unlock it.

Kids may not get all the subtexts of a bugs bunny cartoon, but they're still going to enjoy Bugs and Elmer having it out to the strains of Barber of Seville....

Monday Art: Frederic Remington

Remington is known for his western paintings, and deservedly so. The Lookout, the first of the two below, was used for the cover of Peter Grant's "Brings the Lightning"

Monday Art: Michael Whelan

Outside of the realm of classical art, there are a number of artists who are primarily famous for their fantasy and Sci Fi artwork and book covers. Vallejo, Sweet, and of course, Michael Whelan.

Monday Art: Frederic Church

One more time...

Monday Art: Frederic Church

No buildings in this one, but ice.

Monday Art : Frederic Church

Absolutely love the use of light in his landscapes and buildings.

What is Art?

One of my guilty pleasures is a fun book that I enjoy, even if it is far from great, The Guns of Two-Space by Dave Grossman and Bob Hudson. One thing that shines through in that book and its predecessor are a love of poetry and beauty.

From TGoTS - the second book -

It violates the First Law of Art, Carmack's Law, which says, 'If I can do it, it's not art.' How many years of art school did you have to go to to learn to splash paint on a canvas like that? If someone studies music for four years, they walk away with an ability to play an instrument and can do something I could never do or imitate. But you walk away with an art degree, and the best you can do is this? Something any fool can imitate? This is the best ya got? 'If I can do it, it ain't art!' And the price tag! Ten thousand dollars for that? Oh, so you know so much about art, eh? Then you buy the freaking thing! And you, dammit, get some clothes on that man! What the hell's that supposed to be? Performance art? Performance art! Squirting those substances into that orifice has not been approved by the surgeon general! Oh, and now you're gonna light it, eh? Betcha think that's clever? Ha! I've seen better around any campfire when the boys have been eating beans! I know an artist has to suffer for his art, but why do we have to?"

Vodi's monkey was enjoying the harangue immensely, reinforcing key comments with the occasional "Eek!" as it kept a careful watch in all directions. Periodically the creature would whip an arm out with blinding speed to snag an olive from a passing martini or an hors d'oeuvre from a tray or a hand.

With the exception of the "performing artist" the artsy folks were all dressed in black. (Which Vodi claimed was really about personal cleanliness, or lack thereof.) They had been happily grazing along, maintaining serious expressions no matter what kind of drivel they were viewing in the name of "art." Now someone was calling their bluff, and one of the sheep bleated in response, "Well, you just don't get it."

Vodi was beginning to wind down, but this last remark ran fingernails down the blackboard of her soul. "And that violates the Second Law of Art, Elantu's Law," she replied with renewed vigor, cutting off the recalcitrant sheep and herding it back into the flock, "which says, 'If the artist has to explain what it means, then it's not art.' It's not art, it's a failure. Instead of universal symbolism or universal language, it's gibberish. Or a con job!"

"Video Games Aren't Art"

A pretty interesting article on video games, and whether they are "art"..

The Last of Us is a truly great game. Many have written about it, including me. I recommend it very highly.

But here's what bugs me. The cutscenes of The Last of Us told a very good story. Those cutscenes, all together, would make a solid B+ zombie movie. But when bloggers wrote about it, they treated the actual game part of The Last of Us as this sort of useless, irritating, vestigial limb.

Without the gameplay, the action, the battle, the fear, the dying again and again, The Last of Us is just an above-average zombie movie. The true greatness of the experience is in the sneaking and the stabbing and the shooting and the dying. (LOTS of dying.)

If one restricts "art" to what the postmodern crowd calls art these days, then yes, why would games stoop to being "art"?

I can see why Artists look down on what we do. They have no choice. They certainly can't compete with us. What we do is irresistible. Authors and playwrights are dinosaurs, and we're throwing the asteroids. We'll let Film and TV survive. For now.

My biggest problem? What he describes in the article, that games provide, is art, adapted to a new medium. No, it will never be a movie or a book any more than either is a painting or a statue. But we've so impoverished our language by redefining things that even as he rails against art and dead mediums, what he praises is the beauty, immersion, and craft of... good art.