Postmodern Paintbrush
Postmodern Paintbrush
Last night at about 10:30 I went on a walk and stumbled across a poster from the Seattle Art Museum. The poster featured an event called, Target Practice: Painting Under Attack. As I understand it, the idea of the event was to highlight art and artists who creatively stood up to the cultural norm of elevating painters above all other artists. For centuries it seems, painters were revered as the artistic elite giving them (painters) the inside track to cultural influence and also social dominance.
The poster represents what I would call a transitional stage in the artist community. Transitions in the arts community have often led the way to social and cultural reform. The combined images of a box-cutter, hammer and boxing glove each as a paintbrush in their separate contexts tend to mess with the mindset of the establishment. These images force the powers that be to rethink and often redefine the meaning of a paintbrush. New questions arise like, can something other than a paintbrush be categorized or used as a paintbrush? The arts community would say yes to this question. Another question could be, what is a paintbrush?
What is a Paintbrush?
So, what exactly is a paintbrush? A paintbrush, like the boxing glove in the poster is anything that changed or changes the landscape of any culture in any time. Notice that the landscape that changes is nothing like a scene from a Bob Ross painting and the landscape that changes is not on a tightly bound canvas but living, breathing people shaped by a shift in culture. With this definition of a paintbrush as a backdrop, an idea can become a paintbrush, love becomes a paintbrush, books and people become paintbrushes.
As I walked away from the poster I started thinking about the major influences that have changed the landscape of my life. I wondered about the paintbrushes that have shaped who I have become. And then the thought came to me…
Jesus understands postmodern art. His paintbrush was the cross.
How did Jesus change the landscape of history? He did it with the cross, He did it with love, sacrifice and submission. He continues to paint today through grace, forgiveness and redemption. And He continues to do it by transforming people and the culture people love.
If you take another look at the poster you will see a box-cutter, hammer and a boxing glove. As you see these, remember the spear that cut Jesus side, the nails the held Him high and the beating he received at the hands men. He took all this because He was the master artist and saw what the establishment could never see… that a cross would become a paintbrush.
Please feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts and reflections.
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