Retracing steps

I've been thinking a lot about my last post involving art and how jaded I seem to be against stereotypical 'Christian art.' Truth is, I'm pretty jaded against anything I precieve as overtly cute, idealistic, or utopian in nature that is purposed to be taken seriously.

Granted, let it be known that I've had my fair share of your stereotypical Christian art come out of my hands (with scripture scrawled, etc), and you can see plenty of examples of it at my DA art pile --> pandalemur.deviantart.com. The difference I'm trying to make is that I've been learning not to take those drawings and whatnot seriously. They aren't drawings I have any desire to be put into a gallery or in any sort of setting like that, but rather they are gifts to Christian friends and they can do whatever they want with them. Nevermind that sometimes I even annoy myself with that.
I suppose the use of crosses and icthuses in contemporary Christian art -- that is, the kind you see in bookstores -- is annoying to me because I feel like the theological and historical (respectively) meaning of each symbol is dumbed down or not even thought about. The cross is the place of suffering so we could have life, and I can't take a pink cross with little flowers as that... and the icthus could've been considered a secret-society symbol, so Christians could identify each other silently, and now it's all over the place like a tool of commercialism. Perhaps that's just the thing: I'm annoyed by the way half of American Christianity has become so commercial and consumeristic.

I will say one thing about some decorative art, "christian" or otherwise: I can give some credit to the skill they implement when painting. There is plenty of cottage paintings and eagle paintings that are infinitely better than anything I can do, but that's because it's not the kind of art I do. I have a hard time making things look remotely photographic. The skill and patience to do that is amazing; but this stands for any sort of art, not just those cottage-eagle-Christian paintings found in bookstores.

As for the mysterious stuff I was talking about, I realize not all art has to be mysterious in nature........ perhaps that's my head overflowing and giving fodder to my own ideas and mode of creating. As I was thinking about it the other day, I realized that opinion is heavily reflected in my own art; that there is suffering and I think the suffering should be represented but also weaved with beauty, hope, and redemption. I play with the ideas of bondage and freedom quite a bit (and this I didn't realize until a year ago, when my professor pointed it out to me). The idea of suffering as necessary for growth and life is an idea that grips my bones, convincing me that it is equally necessary to acknowledge that dynamic. True, that while although not everything in the world is beautiful all the time, there certainly are beautiful things in the world that deserve recognition - and as a follower of Christ, it's those things my mind is meant to dwell on. Yet I would not know what the truly beautiful things were if I did not also acknowledge what the ugly things were. I need to know what is bad to appreciate that which is good.

But anyway.
Now that I've explained myself and expounded on my thoughts a little bit, it's time to get lunch.

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