It is not a coincidence that the very last thing we ever expect to see in church, is Modern art or an abstract painting, such as a blank page, a single brick or splashes of paint, as some sort of “intellectual” revelation to message one’s ego. Why? Many of us would immediately answer that it just does not belong there, and they are right, it doesn’t. 

 

Since the Renaissance, realistic art has played a leading role in education and particularly Christian education. Whether it is in the Bible, churches, or Catholic publications, an illustrated history of Christianity has been presented by realistic and life-like images, those that the viewer can relate to and understand.

 

 A strong realistic work of art can clearly convey a theological message, materialize the word of God, and serve as a powerful vehicle of communication to the masses. Hence, artist theologians such as Rafael, Da Vinci, Michelangelo and other Renaissance masters, painted religious works to educate, uplift and strengthen the faith. A definition of an ‘Artist’ was very clear in the past. Applied only to visual artists, it was also synonymous with ‘Skill,’ as the artist was someone who could do something that nobody else could do.

 

Today, in times of Relativism, anyone can be labeled an “artist,” such as a cook, karate expert, dentist, butcher, or anyone.  The term Artist has lost its sacred meaning. We often hear from the defenders of Modernism that ‘art can be anything and anything can be art.’ However, this just does not go well with our Christian heritage and culture, and portraying the Blessed Mother as a chaotic splash of paint or a deformed piece of sculpture, would stand against our visual perception of the Mother of Christ and, in general, our Christian teachings about the sacredness of life and the Beauty of Creation.

 

A story comes to mind about a family of four children, driving on a road, along the fields with tree groves and rivers passing by. They were playing a game where each child were to name the ‘best,’ in their opinion, artist in the world. One child said it was ‘Picasso,’ another child mentioned ‘Van Gogh,’ then the third child named ‘Monet’ and the fourth child sat quietly looking out of the car window and admiring the nature flying by. Then he said, “Look at the sun and the birds and clouds in the blue sky, and the shapes and colors of the leaves and all the different trees. I think that the best artist in the world is God, who created it all.”

 

Indeed, no one ever can create anything better than the masterpiece that He created. As an artist myself, I often think of that story, realizing that we artists realists are trying to reproduce the Beauty of God’s Creation on our canvases and, as artist theologians, we explore the nature of the divine. We know that we will never be as good as God in His skill, but at least we try to get as close as possible to that Master perfection. In other words, we treasure and glorify the Creation of Life and its Beauty. We go to schools and embark in traditional training of direct communication with nature to study all the “sciences in art,” as described by Michelangelo, Raphael and many other great masters after them. We strive to enhance our skills in drawing, because Realistic art is the only kind of art that requires skill, especially when it comes to exploring and capturing life in all its beauty and complexity, in the way it is and without exaggeration. 

 

I was fortunate to have received the core of such a traditional training and, unlike many debaters out there who are experts at expressing their opinion about art, I rely on my credentials which give me the artistic license, if you will, to support my remarks.  

 

A child prodigy, I painted my first portrait at four. I began my formal sixteen-year (1974-1990) fine art education at the age of nine and continued it at the specialized art lyceum for gifted children, followed by the Ph.D. levels of study at the renowned Surikov Art institute, all under the Russian Academy of Arts (founded by Catherine the Great in 1757), which recently also elected me as the Honorary foreign life-time academician. 

 

The curriculum of all my studies, besides such mandatory subjects as Human Anatomy, Perspective and others, also included History of Art from Prehistoric to Renaissance to Modern Art. So, we students were well aware of all the ‘art movements,’ styles and techniques, involved in every period of art. In our broad art education, we acquired the power of knowledge and the more we learned, the clearer was realization that masterfully executed realistic works of art can not be put on the same page with meaningless and helpless dribbles of paint, as we unfortunately often see today in schoolbooks. This is where the damage to the mind begins, resulting in total confusion of one’s thinking such as: If this one is a ‘masterpiece’ and this one is also a ‘masterpiece,’ what example should I follow?  But in reality, it is not that complicated, as long as we remember that we live in a world of contrasts: plus verses minus, light verses dark, beauty verses ugliness.

 

The concepts of Relativism are based on questioning what is already known, but what if it questions the moral values that helped humanity survive throughout its existence? Modern art goes hand in hand with Relativism, where common moral sense is demonized and instead ‘choice enlightened’ and socially acceptable often tasteless, unethical and even criminal behaviors such as abortion and euthanasia are championed as rights, choices, privileges and freedoms of expression. So, here is the question. Is Moral Relativism the tool of the devil and therefore the fundamental element in the art of Modernism, where God’s perfect form in human anatomy and nature is broken and defamed, and death and ugliness are celebrated over life and beauty? The answer is obvious.

 

I would like to expand further and use Genesis Chapter 1, as the basis for the moral value of realistic painting and its vital role in following God’s commandments and in promoting and preserving life as He created it. In Genesis Chapter 1, it says that God created heaven and earth when the earth was without form or shape and in darkness. He separated light from darkness, and at the end of each day, “God saw it was good,” hence, God SAW goodness.

 

Modern critics of the school of the Renaissance and Realism in general, claim that there is no creativity in depicting man or nature in its true form, yet that is exactly what God did in his creation of heaven and earth, nature and all beings. God created the template, the blueprint of Realism in art, where light and dark are separated in tonal values, and those who are familiar with the traditional school of art know that study of ‘tonal values’ in nature is the fundamental principle of Realism. After the viewer sees the realistic painter’s work, they become enlightened and SEE goodness, like God did after each stage of His creation. They see goodness also in the most tragic and sad paintings such as Christ on the cross and where a painting depicting pain and suffering, will move us to compassion and love. Realism is prayer, gratitude, honoring God’s creation. This is not the case in the inherent pessimism of Modern art, the art of ugliness and death, where future does not exist. 

 

Artistic talent is often referred to as a ‘gift from God’ and should be treasured as one and not taken for granted. For an artist, it also comes with sacred responsibilities, as the mission of Visual Art is not to celebrate selfish expression of one’s depressive feelings by primitive means. It must propagate goodness and beauty and not evil’s ugliness. And yes, even the horrors of war and devastation can be portrayed with signs of Hope, which helps us get through difficult times, so goodness will eventually prevail. 

 

Art must educate in a positive way and the artists have this very moral obligation before their viewers and God Himself, who gave them talent. “The works of art speak of their authors,” - said Pope John Paul II. In his letter to the Artists in 1999, His Holiness wrote, “To all who are passionately dedicated to the search for new ‘epiphanies’ of beauty so that through their creative work as artists they may offer these as gifts to the world,” and then His Holiness quotes from Genesis 1:31, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” A very Holy man, John Paul II was outspoken about the “culture of death,” warned about its consequences, and liked to quote the famous words of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “Beauty will save the world!”