Where art Art...?

I had a thought last semester. Or came to a conclusion. Whatever it was, it has to do with art in the world today and what people actually define beauty as nowadays.

Art used to reflect God.

Somewhere around the bend, though, art became about expressing ourselves. Just us, nobody else. We took our own perspective of everything. Yep. We pretty took matters into our own hands.

But if that's the case...

It's no wonder tour art now is puzzling and arcane; that it's difficult to make sense of and we can't quite figure out what it means. It's no wonder that it's abstract to the point of indiscernible. We've lost the lens to see it.

It's the same with everything in our culture if you think about it. If art reflects a culture, what does today's art say? Abstract? Trying to say something but can't quite say it? Messy? Shattered? Broken? Lost?

You can see it in our advertisements. You can hear it in our music. You can watch it on tv, in the movie theaters, on your computers. I'm not saying all this art is completely lacking, but a lot of it is.
You can even see it on people...and unfortunately, the terrible lack of. Is it any wonder, then, that people no longer immediately see a woman's true beauty?

There's beauty there, there really is! But like a camera without focus or with someone without glasses, it's blurred.

Art used to reflect God.




When we used to see Him in us - because we're made in His image and likeness - and acknowledge His hand in creation, we reflected Him in our art, and it showed true beauty...
Because He is True Beauty. Art loses its beauty when it abandons the Author of beauty itself.
We may be made in the image and likeness of God, but we are most definitely NOT God.

I kind of wonder if anyone will ever come to the same conclusion.