What is an Artist Doing?

Over at the Lemming Apocalypse, Tim noted his love of Mitch Hedburg and how Hedburg quotes come to him all the time throughout his days. These experiences with the comedian are actually shaping the way you see and experience the world. Because of Mitch's ability to connect with people through his stand-up, he's helping people like my brother process the world around them, even when he's not listening to him.

I think that's the goal of every artist, whether they're an author, filmmaker, comedian, or painter.

Artists want to connect with you, that is obvious. But they do that by getting you to think about reality in a slightly different way. Story tellers like authors and filmmakers put their characters in situations to get you to connect and think about those themes. Painter and photographers portray images that when we connect these images with others from our experience, hope to encourage us to think differently about our world or see it from a new angle or with emphasis on different colors (i.e., emotions). Comedians, re-craft our experiences in a manner that helps us to see the inherent humor in stuff we do.

All artists want you to continue to think about their art...that's why saying "I was so moved by such-and-such" is a high complement. (the equivalent for a comedian is saying, "I laughed so hard...")

I heard this yesterday: in general, emotional responses will only last about three seconds unless we start consciously thinking about the event that summoned the response.

This means, when we talk about "being moved" we mean that not only was an emotional experience, but that it was an experience that got us to continue to think beyond our initial reaction.

When we think about an artist's work, we are really thinking about their take on reality and either accepting or rejecting it. In either case, you're case, your sense of reality is being changed. You are now either accepting that person's view or pointedly rejecting it.

In the case of Christians who believe that the Bible's portrayal of reality is a more accurate reflection of what the world is actually like than the way we see it, reading the Bible regularly will shape the way you experience reality.

(btw, when I talk about the accuracy of the Bible's portrayal of reality, I am not necessarily talking about its portrayal of history or science. I'm specifically thinking about how the Bible portrays people's relationships with each other and with their creator God.)