A Research on the Artistic Discourse of the Creator and His Creation
This research is about analogies and images of the Creator and His Creation shown in various artistic discourses, and it tries to light up and understand more deeply about the idea of the Creator being the utmost Artist through examining, comparing, and integrating the various artistic notions of being 'the utmost Artist'.
C. S. Lewis once described God as a Great Sculptor, people as His sculptures, and the world as His studio. We can infer the progressive nature of the Creation from the expression 'studio', and we also called our attention to the fact that the sculptures do not simply remain as the Sculptor's works, but that they are called to partake and assist the work of the Sculptor.
When our attentions are shifted from the human to the nature and the land, we can discover that the Creator God Himself works as a gigantic scale land artist who as He takes care of the earth, not only exhibits the archetype of all land art work, but also freely provides natural conditions such as light, wind, and water to all land artists on earth. When we look at the sky and observe the universe, on the other hand, we become to acknowledge the Creator as a kinetic artist, as God Himself has not only planned and designed the earth, the solar system, and the whole universe as a kinetic sculpture, but also as He still holds and operates it.
Furthermore, God is portrayed as a Great Master Craftsman as God Himself not only created human-beings and the nature, but as He also continues to form and guide every individual's life. Ravi Zacharias describes God as a Great Master Craftsman, which, in today's context, is a textile artist. He mentions seven elements of skein which forms and weaves our lives, and this paper focuses on the first two elements which are genes and sufferings. Genes themselves are interesting in their shapes as they exist in marvelous structures, but they also signify how the Creator has formed each individual as unique and special beings. He then emphasizes how our lives are formed and shaped through sufferings. This discourse on suffering is also mentioned by Mark Hanby and again found in the analogy of the Potter's House.
Mark Hanby