National Arts Month

There is an avant-garde quote thrown around in the art world, more than that, it’s being taught in art classes and schools. It goes: art is not nature, and nature is not art. However, one would be forgiven for thinking that this is blasphemous. For if art is not nature, then humankind is not art. And if nature is not art, then God is not an artist.

As we remember and reminisce about the great artists of days gone by, they have one common denominator: they gave an ideal to strive to. A state of perfection that is attainable. For isn’t it written in the Bible that we ought to be perfect as our heavenly Father is? (Matthew 5:48) But now, art is in disarray. What was once a medium that gave glory to the divine, is something that merely provokes, shocks, and horrifies. One only needs to visit an art auction and observe what the elite call art.

But as with everything, there is hope. Let us support the artists who truly strive to not only make us feel something but those who also give us something to aspire to. Let us create an economy that demands ideals and perfection, so that artists may supply us with that. For there was a time when we once did. (Athina Pia Barreda)