Modern Art and Ancient Calling

I was inspired this week after hearing a story on NPR about the “Colorfield” School of painting. The most well-known example of this movement (at least to me) is/was Mark Rothko. But it was the story of Gene Davis, one of the movements primary influences, that caught my ear. He had a fulfilling career as a sportswriter covering the Washington Redskins before pursuing art in middle age.

As you know, the relationship between art, artists, and culture is something important to me. Most guys like me have early adolescent dreams of rock stardom only to find that their calling is something else. I’d make a terrible rockstar these days! So where does a love of artistry fit in when your true calling is a bit more practical? For me, it’s worked out well thus far. My true calling is pastoring and shepherding in the church. But God has put me in a position where I’m also able to share music with people each week.

For Gene Davis, sportswriting was his vocation (I don’t know if he would have said it was his calling), but being an artist was his passion. When he realized he would never have time to learn “proper” art, he created a new art form using very strict lines and colors. Necessity became the mother of invention, so to speak, and he had a significant impact in creating an entire movement of modern art. Pretty good for a sportswriter, eh?

I tell you all of this to raise some questions in your own mind. What has God made you passionate about? What vocation has He called you to? In what situation in life (sitz en lieben) has God placed you? All these things influence the Purpose that God has called you to, but they may not all be the same thing. For example, Jesus’ earliest vocation was that of a carpenter working in His dad’s shop, but his calling and passion was something far greater.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28 NIV)

Oh, and hear is a related link on a new form of Colorfield expression: Analog Color Field Computing. Be sure to watch the short video; it is both haunting and beautiful. Postmodern modernism?