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How is it possible to discover God in art from secular arenas or in abstract or impressionistic art? Fujimura does not address this question directly, but he does subtly suggest that we may not be able to discover beauty or a relationship with God through much of art if our concept of art is a didactic or an answer giving mechanism. Fujimura states that good art is a question mark. Fujimura may rightly suggest that many Christians tend to attempt to look beyond or cover over the suffering of the world. Artists, on the other hand are comfortable with suffering and are not afraid to look into a troubled world—a quest that raises more questions than answers both for the believer and the non-believer. Fujimura sees that God defined beauty for us in the life of Christ—a life rich in suffering. In the atomic age—an age where human ability to inflict suffering on a massive and instantaneous scale has been realized—artists grapple freshly with questions of identity, meaning and purpose. It is these questions that, once one learns to read art, can prompt a redeeming dialogue—a dialogue that the Church can also learn from and be stretched by as well as offer redemptive answers. Consequently, Fujimura says that the Church needs non-believing artists to learn and grow from. Fujimura prompts Christians to see stories of life as parables and to learn to see those parables in art. What are these parables revealing?
Many parables that can be found in 20th century, atomic age, art reveal an honest dialogue with the question of “Why live?” However, there are many parables with many themes. Fujimura credits Vincent Van Gogh with starting a parable that began to appear in the life of many artists. This parable is that of the church as old and dilapidated, painted with a sense of isolation. It is a parable of God’s spirit leaving the church and going into creativity and nature. One can imagine how the church could grow from entering into a dialogue with Van Gogh’s observations. Likewise, Fujimura suggests that a parable can be discovered in Picasso’s art. He notices that as Picasso painted many self portraits that they increasingly became profoundly empty, sad and a shell of himself. Christians can interact with this parable by seeing that when one focuses so intently upon themselves that they actually lose themselves. It is becoming increasingly important to learn how to dialogue with artists because it is the artists who have the language of our culture as advertisers, filmmakers, writers, musicians, etc. However, Fujimura states that Christians have not been able to understand how to negotiate a dialogue with the larger culture and are, therefore, a step behind in teaching their children how to live with conviction, faith and hope. It is only through an appreciation and understanding of cultural dialogues that Christians can enter into them to redeem them, twist them back, and make these parables complete.
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This Interview summary will be continued tomorrow with the question, "What is the role of the Christian Church in the world with regard to artists?"
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