What is Good Art?

So, a couple weekends ago I saw Derek Webb and Sandra McCracken in concert. I've been meaning to write about the concert even since my return, and I think I'll start with this little tid bit. The Mix family, being huge Bob Dylan fans, naturally requested "Every Grain of Sand" when Derek opened the floor up for requests. He was happy to oblige our request and said the following before he began playing: (I taped the concert!)

This is a song by my favorite song writer of all time and is arguably one of the best song writers certainly of my generation. Bob Dylan...(here my mom said, "Thank you, Derek," to which he responded, "You're welcome, ma'm."). It's a tremendous song that comes off a tremendous record called Shot of Love which came out, I don't know when it was, but it was in the early 80's. It's such a great song. I recorded a version of it on my latest record. it's just such a great song. The reason that this song's so important to me is because it does what Christian art is supposed to do. Dylan himself came to the faith in the late 70's. It's just a great model for Christian artists: music, theater, film, print, writing, painting, sculpting, whatever it is, whatever kind of art that you do, there's something we can learn from the example of a guy like Bob Dylan who engages culture with his faith not with his mediocre buy explicit art, which is the vast majority of the art in the church now a days -- mediocre at best, but really explicit. But rather, he makes this really good art, just this excellent art and fuses his faith into it in ways that are sometimes more subtle than others, but all of it's good. I think that it would be a great thing if
the church would learn how to discern, if we could tell the difference between good art and explicit art (because we don't know the difference). We think if it's explicit and if it talks about Jesus then that's good stuff. Maybe, it might be a good song, but it might be a terrible song. It might be terrible, awful art. We can't settle in this area. The church is putting out terrible art. Even your local Christian radio stations. It might be encouraging and uplifting, a lot of it is, but
it's terrible art. I'm not saying that it can't be preferential. On the whole, the church is known for picking bad art. That's one of the main ways the church has engaged culture throughout history, is through the artist and we're failing miserably to fo that now a days...

I think it's time that we, as music listeners and art appreciators, stop holding artists to this unbelievable double standard that we don't impose on any other set of gifts, only artists. If your music is not explicit, then it's of no worth and you're wasting your talents. It's a lie! For those of you who are artists here, be encouraged. If you play guitar and you don't want to go and join a
worship band although everyone tells you that you need to be playing worship music, it's a lie! The excellent use of your gift glorifies the Lord thoroughly. Don't feel pressured by a subculture who loves to categorize and market everything to the point where there's no room for anything that's not explicitly Christian. The best art is the stuff that never even makes it into the shelves of a Christian bookstore. If Thomas Kincaid is the best art that we've got in the church, then we're really in trouble. I'm not saying that's not good, I'm just saying that's not the whole point. What about abstract art? We're just so under the weight of Christian categories here in this country. Where are our artists engaged in culture? You want to talk about ruining our witness? We're just engaging with each other. We're the only people who have enough patience to deal with our terrible art. Christian art has nothing to do with content. Think about this: There's no such thing as a Christian painting or a Christian song. There are Christian and secular people; there's not Christian and secular music. We've invented it. It makes it easier for us to draw our battle lines and categorize our stores. It's all about the heart of the creator of the art itself. If you're a believer and you want to paint a painting that's not of Jesus but of some other bit of creation, there are some who are called to write, paint, and sing about the light and there are some who are call to write, paint, and sing about what they see illuminated by the light. The church needs all of those people. It's ok if you want to be in a praise and worship band. Amen to that. But if your neighbor doesn't want to, don't criticize him. The church needs all our diversity. No one is a perfect expression of a church. We're a community and we need each other. We need our stronger brothers and sisters who don't do things the way that we understand.

Bob Dylan, man, he just gives us a great road map for what this looks like. He makes great, great art and that's why he's still relevant. The church is scared to death to claim him because they can't control him. that's why the church didn't put their name on Johnny Cash until he was dead, because he was too dangerous. If the church said, "Yeah, Johnny Cash is one of us," and then he held up his middle finger to the country music industry, the church would then have to say, "No he's not, take him back." Bob Dylan is a believer and he makes great art. He can show us how to blow our framework apart to prove that we actually have room for all of this. There's a lot of art out there for us to enjoy. Just because it isn't labeled Christian, doesn't mean it's dangerous. And just because it is Christian, doesn't mean it's good. Here's Bob Dylan's "EveryGrain of Sand."

It took me nearly an hour to listen to the tape and write all of that down. Amen to what he said. Please forgive any spelling/grammar/format errors...this has taken forever to get up and I just don't feel like proofreading before I hit publish post. :-)