ABOUT THE ARTIST

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Mebane, NC, United States
My wife Emily and I currently live in Mebane, NC with our son Evan. I am actively accepting commissions at this time. You may request work by contacting me at artisservant@gmail.com. I currently charge $200 for 11x14 drawings and $150 for 8x10s. I sell prints of my work for $25 for 11x14 and $15 for 8x10. I hope that you will enjoy the works here displayed, and that you will contact me with your comments at artisservant@gmail.com - January 5th, 2015

Thursday, January 25, 2007

REFLECTIONS: ART IS SERVANT


As I have tried over the past year to develop my art, to inspire the interest of others, to sell my work, and to use this website as a tool for these ends, I feel that I have stayed in some ways from the site's original spirit. In the frenzy to complete new work I have lost something of the substance that should be at the heart of all great artwork. This is the first (I hope) of many efforts to renew that spirit.

To become a Master, an artist must first be a student and servant of beauty and goodness. Recently I was discussing my work with a friend, expressing my frustration at having to draw from copyrighted material to create beautiful Christian art. Caravaggio, Michelangelo, and Raphael all had models. His natural response was "well, when you begin to do work from your own mind that won't be a problem." It sounds easy enough, but any truly good artist, like any good writer, must build a vocabulary before he can work. This vocabulary of form, proportion, line, and composition he must find in the goodness of Creation itself, without which the mind cannot comprehend or imitate beauty. While the ideas of the artist inform his representation, he must in some way always serve and imitate the beauty of the supreme Artist's work, which in some way captivates us all.

Today artists scramble to walk before they have even learned to crawl. Picasso is recognized for his abstract works that any adult could imitate, but at 14 years old he could paint like Rembrandt. As a student of art history, I do not question the genius of Picasso. I do however question those who brush aside true artistic competency to embrace a lazy quest to sell gimmicks rather than art. The idea that the artist can decide for himself what is beautiful regardless of former traditions and standards has run its course. This thinking has caused the self destruction of art at the highest levels. Although they are constantly told otherwise by art's "elite," lay people can discern from the world around them (using only their eyes, ears, nose, and common sense) what is beautiful and what is not. For art to be truly great it has to convey something greater than itself (gasp!) to its viewers, and the vehicle of this greater thing is beauty.

As William Shakespeare once sat at a desk with his fellow children, slowly learning how to write a "T" over and over again, so the artist must spend years at the feet of beauty as her servant and student. "He among you who would be great must be [a] servant." (Matthew 20:26) I pray that I will always be a student of beauty. To the layperson who says "I don't know what art is, but I know what I like," be assured: You know something that many artists have lost... the apprehension of beauty.

"A work of art only lives through the one who views it." -Pablo Picasso

1 comment:

  1. David Hume once said "Beauty in things exists merely in the mind which contemplates them." and as you know how much I loathe David Hume, I could not disagree more... the amazing thing to me is how everything is beautiful when you truly understand it for what it is. A simple 'ugly' pencil is used by a wonderful artist (who is beautiful himself) to stir the imagination or pehaps marvelous memories or desires of future plans. I think beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but simply because we do not want to open our eyes all the way. Thank you for sharing your beauty with me.

    ReplyDelete

WELCOME!

I appreciate your time and your interest in my work. If you are interested in knowing more about me and my philosophy of art, please feel free to scroll to the bottom of this page. I would rather spare those who have no interest in such things from having to read about me before looking at my work. God bless you :)

The Vocation of the Artist

I firmly believe that art is meant to serve others, especially in lifting the hearts of people, through "ephiphanies of beauty," (John Paul II's letter to artists) to the contemplation and the glory of God. The artist participates in a unique way in the inspiration of the Creator of all things, and knows something of His joy in the act of creation, for "the act of creation is an act of love."(The Agony and the Ecstacy) This act is essentially bound up with the mystery of the Incarnation of Jesus, in which what had been invisible was made visible in His person, His life and work, and finally in His death and resurrection. The artist is exhorted by the very perception of his gift to its service. Art is not merely, nor should it ever be, a vehicle for selfish ends or cheap shock and awe, but it must seek to give joy to the lives of others. The artist is then in the end merely a servant of truth, beauty, and goodness, and his work must serve to convey these to a wider audience. "Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 15-16)I believe that the artist finds in the lives of Jesus, and of His foster father Joseph, essential role models, especially in their hidden life at Nazareth. Though very little is handed down to us in the Gospels or in tradition illuminating this period in Jesus' life, I believe that this hidden, simple, carpenter's life of "working quietly" (2 Thessalonians 3:11) can be a model for all artists, in which delight is daily sought in the manifestation of beauty in wood, paint, charcoal, dance, the stage, and music. This is a life of humility, where the artist freely accepts that this world, including his own work, "will pass away," (Matt. 24:35) but what it points to never will. Obedience to inspiration, especially as it is inspired by God's Word (itself the revelatory self-expression of God) is the artist's highest calling. This new site is dedicated to this higher calling of the artist, to this challenge.

You will find included in this site examples of my own work, as well as links to other sites which
celebrate the arts, and especially challenge the artist to reach the fullness of his own abilities
in the service of something greater than him or his work. I hope that you will enjoy this site, and
take full advantage of its links, especially the Letter to Artists of our Holy Father (of beloved memory) John Paul II. Thank you for your comments and your consideration of this website.

David Myers