Am I a “religious artist”?

That was the question put to me by a journalist yesterday.  I was thinking about it as I drove for a day’s climbing at Froggatt today. I’ve been asked this before (together with the closely related question: “Are you a Christian artist?”) I don’t think that I’m going to get through the implications of this in one posting, but let’s make a start.

How would I reply to the question, “Are you a left-handed artist?”  The answer, of course, is “Yes”.  It is a different kind of question from the first one, however, in that there is no necessary connection between these two aspects of identity. I am an artist, and it just so happens that I’m left-handed.  My left-handedness has nothing to do with the way I work as an artist, or the kind of paintings I produce. (Unless, that is, you subscribe to the left brain/right brain thing, but let’s not go there.)   I am sure, however, that there is some kind of connection between my being an artist and my religious commitment: but what kind of connection is that?

In the minds of many people, to be a “religious” (or a Christian) artist seems necessarily to imply that one’s artistic output has some kind of didactic or evangelical intention. It has often been said that mediaeval church art was often intended primarily as a means of instruction for those who were not literate.  This kind of art sets out, first and foremost, to “get the message across”.  Well, I’m certainly not one of those. I’m not sure that I’ve ever done a piece with that intention. Perhaps a couple of Christmas cards I’ve done might fit that bill, but probably nothing more.

The other principal sense in which the phrase is used is to describe the devotional intention of the work of art.  The artist uses the act of artistic creation as an act of personal devotion, and the intention of the resulting work is that it will aid or inspire devotion in those who encounter it. This is the way in which the painting of ikons us normally described. That doesn’t seem to fit me either, although I suppose that the little group of five images I did two years ago, reflecting on Advent, might come into that category.  These were noteworthy, however, for their being unusual among my usual output.

Both of these responses to the question presume that the answer will point to some generic definition of what I do.  It is as if “religious art” is supposed to stand on the same level as “marine art”, “wildlife art” or “portrait painting”. If that is the case, then my reply to the question would have to be, simply, “No: I’m not a religious artist”.  As it turns out, though, I don’t actually want to respond in the negative.  If I say “Yes”, however, what meaning can I give to that?  I guess I’ll have to sleep on that one.