The Artist, the Work of Art, and the Freedom of the Unfree Will

Last updated on: August 17, 2012 at 5:24 pm By Daniel A. Siedell

What is the relationship of the artist to the work of art? Is it merely the result of the artist’s intentions and nothing more—a visual, literary, or musical message sent to the viewer that contains the artist’s emotions, thoughts, worldview? This is a question that has long perplexed critics and Charles McGrath’s recent article, “Good Art, Bad People” in The New York Times, offers another dimension to this question. McGrath’s article focused on artists who have produced great art but have done so... Read more

Robert Hughes, Jackson Pollock, and Me

Last updated on: August 11, 2012 at 7:18 am By Daniel A. Siedell

The art critic has an impossible but necessary task. I was reminded of this earlier this week after learning of the death of Robert Hughes, one of the most successful critics of our generation. The art critic’s task is impossible because he or she must use one medium of expression (words) to communicate the significance of another medium of expression (paint). Moreover, a painting by its very nature fights against words, defies words, undermines the capacity of words to make... Read more

In Search of an Authentic Faith: Freud, Kierkegaard and Beck’s “New Apologetic”

Last updated on: August 9, 2012 at 10:36 am By Kyle Roberts

In Richard Beck’s recent book, The Authenticity of Faith, he considers whether a truly authentic faith is possible. Freud had dealt a heavy blow to Christianity by offering up scientific explanations for what motivates religious belief. Believers are drawn to religion because it functions to repress our existential anxieties. Afraid of death? Don’t worry, there’s an afterlife. Need some meaning and purpose for your life? Christianity gives you plenty (God loves you and has a wonderful plan…). Feel insignificant in this big... Read more

Why Something?

Last updated on: August 7, 2012 at 3:23 pm By Daniel Harrell

Jim Holt’s new book, “Why Does the World Exist?, tackles the most basic question we humans could ever contemplate: why is their something instead of nothing? It’s the most perplexing challenge for philosophers and scientists alike (“We are at least five Einsteins away from answering that question.”). For Christians, the perplexity provides ironic comfort. The best answer anybody can generate as to “why something” is “God only knows.” Amen. Holt, like any high-minded human, is dissatisfied by this monosyllabic, monotheistic fall back... Read more

Art and Explanation

Last updated on: August 26, 2012 at 2:38 pm By Daniel A. Siedell

Susan Sontag has a point. In her well-known essay, “Against Interpretation” (1966), Sontag argues that the classical mimetic theory of art has created an unnecessary distinction between form and content, which modern (and now postmodern) theories have merely intensified. Interpretation presumes that art must have content that can be extracted for use outside the work. Sontag writes, “Directed to art, interpretation means plucking a set of elements (the X, the Y, the Z, and so forth) from the whole work.... Read more

Beach Volleyball’s Boys and Babes

Last updated on: August 6, 2012 at 9:20 am By Wyndy Corbin Reuschling

We have been periodically watching the Olympics over the last week. I particularly like watching beach volleyball. I am a beach aficionado but not nearly in the same ways as these amazing athletes. The sand is apparently 18 inches deep at the venue at the Horse Guard Parade in London. Oh, what joy to plant my feet in 18 inches on an Atlantic Ocean beach with a good novel, the umbrella, a cool drink (responsibly water!), a day in front... Read more

Novel Reading: A Lost Art?

Last updated on: August 3, 2012 at 8:50 am By Wyndy Corbin Reuschling

Okay…..I’m picking up a theme that a couple of my blogging colleagues did on “summer reading.” And in light of the recent passing of Gore Vidal, I’ll talk about some of my favorite novel reading over the summer. On the news last night, an old interview was shown where Vidal was mourning the loss of the novel and a reading public. What do we lose when we lose the art of reading a novel? We lose the wonder of multiple... Read more

The Olympics as “Existential Narcotic”: How Michael Phelps Represses Our Fear of Death

Last updated on: August 2, 2012 at 7:32 am By Kyle Roberts

What do Michael Phelps, the new “Fab Five” and the U.S. men’s basketball team all have in common? They all help us suppress (and repress) our existential anxieties: Our unsettling, subconscious realization of finitude, our fear of death, and our fear of the cultural “other.” It’s been interesting reading through Richard Beck’s The Authenticity of Faith during these Olympics. Beck masterfully unpacks what he sees as the greatest apologetic challenge to religion in the present moment: The seemingly coherent (and at least partially... Read more

Hittie, Jebusite, Amorite, Mosquito-bite

Last updated on: July 21, 2012 at 11:32 am By Daniel Harrell

The New Yorker ran a disturbing piece recently on mosquitoes, apropos to a midsummer post when swatting the pests makes one wistful for snowfall. According to the article, researchers estimate that mosquitoes have been responsible for half the deaths in human history: malaria, yellow fever, dengue, chikungaya, West Nile—just to name a few. Valiant efforts have been made to eradicate the insects, but they’re evolutionary geniuses, as are the parasites and viruses they harbor. Were we able to run the mosquito into... Read more

Charley Friedman’s One Hour Smile (1995)

Last updated on: August 1, 2012 at 7:27 am By Daniel A. Siedell

The most enjoyable part of my work as a museum curator was developing close relationships with artists, giving me privileged access to how they think and work, including opportunities to experience their art at its most vulnerable, in process. From time to time I will share their work as a way to reflect on the theological nature of art. One artist who has had a profound effect on my thinking over the past decade is Charley Friedman, whose One Hour Smile... Read more