Tags: education, lecture, Story
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Twitter: bryanbeus
says:
Tara Larsen Chang – @tlcillustration – asks:
Just looked at your lecture notes (awesome -wish I could have listened in person). This is a topic I have thought about a lot. Truth – as depicted by symbol and myth…? I quite like some of what James Christensen discusses in “Voyage of the Basset” – “…the way one delights in [myths] creates the magic…Imagination, not the slide rule, is the mother of progress. .[Myths] are a window on the world, just as science is. The wisdom of stories and legends is that they give us another way to understand ourselves and the place we inhabit… Be believing, one sees…. Faith precedes the miracle….”
I love the thought, and have always been drawn to archetypal, mythic and symbolic/fantastical literature and imagery. It is lovely and ‘safe’ (and a bit one-dimensional) in the childrens illustration arena where I have spent most of my profession. As I’ve started trying to do some more ‘grown up’ art and interacting with the older fantasy art crowd and mind-set, I get a little conflicted. Too much horrific and violent (which can also be ‘true’ I suppose, but pretty uncomfortable and not uplifting) and dubiously amoral.
I am totally not a prude nor feel the need for Molly-Mormon-ness/naivete nor religiously-themed art. I guess I continue to seek the balance of light and dark and truth and universal-ality… But ultimately in an uplifting way….? (I just checked out Brom’s “The Child Thief” from the library. Quite like the art. Appreciated the premise. But the book was violent and horrific – with very little redeeming qualities for any of the characters by the end. Not the aspects of the contemporary fantasy market that make me happy…)
How do you balance this? I find one dimensional fantasy art (i.e. all goodness and light – like I have to do for my children’s clients, or all dark and icky) highly unsatisfying and mostly trite… But it is harder to depict what you are saying clearly when multi-dimensional…
Still thinking about this stuff…
Would love your input?
Thanks,
Tara
*posted with permission*
Twitter: bryanbeus
says:
Hey Tara,
I agree with a lot of what you just said. Story, through pictures and words, is our window into the world. We really don’t understand the world we live in unless we are capable of stepping out of it, and into the only other place we can go that exists outside this universe: our imaginations. It’s through story that we can reflect, examine, admire, and disprove.
Our approach is to base our life as solidly as we can in what we have learned about Jesus Christ and then allow our other pursuits (reading, painting, etc.) to be a reflection of those beliefs.
We find that by comparing our life to Christ and by placing our priorities after him, surprising results appear as to what interests us, for both work and leisure:
Like you said, certain opportunities, such as commissions for fantasy novels, loose their glamour when we look to see what ultimate foundation the story takes its reader too. Certain artistic pieces can be exquisitely executed yet appalling in subject matter. Many prominent bodies of work of all sorts take on new meaning.
I personally find that I am less enthralled by Shakespeare the more I appreciate the beauty of respecting one’s belle and her family, no matter how lovely the climb up to her balcony at night may be.
The epic battles and descriptive characterizations of Tolstoy I find to be interesting not only as narrative, but also as diary of a confused and forlorn man who sought yet never found a source of happiness and solidarity.
And I find the simple paintings of artists like Marshall Arisman to be a gentle reminder that though thousands of years have passed, one can still dress himself up in festive colors and skins and dance until magic comes from every facet of his figure – even in downtown New York. (Google “Thoth Central Park” YouTube: http://tinyurl.com/4lo7p8 )
When looked at from an eternal perspective – what the LDS church teaches so effectively – each brush stroke and page we make becomes a brick or a barnacle in the great work of our eternal masters – God, The Eternal Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.
When we turn our minds on to the fact that our work _does_ matter, that everything the eye beholds _was_ created for a purpose, and that our time and decisions are a record of our optional contribution to or assault against that great purpose, we immediately seek a judicious view of our own work.
Are we helping God? And are we allowing ourself in leisure to be blown in his direction?
What seemed a fastidious occupation suddenly becomes a bore in His goodness. The premise of a painting becomes poignant not for a dynamic execution of the principles of composition, but for the twinge or the twinkle it makes upon the viewer’s heart.
Notably, the tree-like lists of successful people/artists are shaken free in our eyes of the corrupt and withered twigs that, though they found their place of influence on the branch, kick against the pricks of the will of God. The eye of the world is now blind to our perspective. Simpler, and before-seemingly-less-talented artists easily take the now-vacant spots on our own personal branches of influence.
To achieve balance as artists, the first step is to find a sturdy point to adhere to. Each person must find that point for him/herself. I believe it was Andrew Wyeth, who – speaking of critics – said, “If they like it, it’s bad. If they hate it, it’s bad. An artist hast to be ingrown in order to get anywhere.” It is that point of ‘becoming ingrown’ which we must seek – our becoming of a seed. When winds of opportunity and clutching necessities come grasping in our direction, they will thus take the fruits of our labor, rather than dragging us, as unrooted seeds, away.
The deeper our roots, the easier it is to create multi-dimensional work. The audience, in passing by our threshold, simply eats the fruit. If the fruit is good, there will be people who will return to eat again and seek the method of its creation. And, so discover for themselves the depths our story’s perspective on good and evil.
Good is a constant, evil is a constant: they are opposing points of infinity. But our understanding of the infinite – which comes through study, thought, and self-examination – marks our ability to enlighten. We portray good as good and evil as evil truthfully, as we understand it. The joy of “depth” or “multi-dimensional portrayals of good and evil” comes not from attempting to confuse the audience through creating ambiguous characters or plots, nor through pedantry. Depth in art and storytelling comes when the storyteller’s understanding of truth is new to the audience – that is all.
Multi-dimensional work should be effortless when being executed. When we sit down to write or paint, whatever knowledge and truth we have acquired previously is what we pull into the soil of our threshold as fertilizer for our work. What we create is created from our immediate energy of truth. Once a project is begun, there is seldom an effective way of changing our position mid-course. We are, as it were, daily writing or painting in the same way a singer sings on stage: all preparation is done before hand; once the curtain is drawn, we can only hope to use the moment given to us effectively.
As we continually share and engage in searching for answers with others, we create a body of work that may be useful for the purposes of God long after we – the creators – are dead, gone, and the simple necessities of every day life no long matter to our consciousness (No one cares about Rembrandt’s pocket expenses, marketing techniques, and whether or not he would have enjoyed using twitter. One cares about the level of truth we can find in his art). We bypass the time-corrupting disease of daily minutiae and give our work to God – whose work is infinitely truthful and infinitely meaningful. The questions, “will my work stand the test of time; will I be important to humanity?” is definitely answered…Yes. We can be happy knowing our art was a worthy pursuit, no matter whether our work will be put into text books, or not.
Your comments reminded me of a long-forgotten film we watched in college on John Collier. I loved his work, and took lots of notes. I dug them out again after re-reading your response. A couple of good quotes:
“When we look at the body of work of any artist we have a window into his soul. We can see his values and beliefs about life. What one believes is always reflected in ones creative work.
Truth in a painting is irresistible, if not immediately, at least inevitable. But lies can be very appealing for awhile, especially beautiful lies… That becomes one of the principle problems of the artist–learning to tell the difference between the truth and the beautiful lies.
Relation to reality depends on more than sight alone perceives…
Some artists think that a persons art should take first place over every thing else in their life. That was a temptation for me, especially in the beginning. But to put art in the first place is really destructive to the art. Art should be a reflection of what you think about things. It’s a reflection of what you think is important and the way you see life. To put it about God, religion, or family would be destructive to the art…
What one’s world view is, matters. Creative talent can be seen as God-given or as only something resident in oneself. How one sees the source of creativity determines how one develops and uses his talent. When we look at the body of work of any artist, we have a window into his soul. We can see his values and beliefs about life. A superficial person can’t help but produce superficial art no matter how gifted he is. What one believes is always reflected in ones creative work. The fundamental question then for the artist as well as anyone else is not, “How do I express myself”, but rather, “what do I believe has meaning? – Are the things I believe true”?”
Twitter: bryanbeus
says:
What wonderful quotes. Thank you for sharing!
Twitter: MichelleRWeaver
says:
Thanks for posting these! I’m really glad you came and gave this talk, it was very helpful to me. :>
Stay well dude!
Twitter: bryanbeus
says:
Thank you Michelle – You too!