When I had my spiritual awakening I became a passionate Christian who loved God. Not only a Christian, but also a Christian who enjoys images, more so images that would cause you to think. Let me just get out there and say weird stuff! Okay, okay none of which were profane or outright sick, but just pure weird. Even as a pre-teen I had this weird Iron Maiden poster hanging in my room. I fondly remember a young cousin who reluctantly slept in my room when having sleep overs, all because of that very dark image. When you become a Christian, does it mean that you need to throw your personality away? Not at all. The things that intrigued me before I made a decision for Christ continued to intrigue me after my decision for Christ. What was sinful naturally began to be challenged, but things not sinful like some thought provoking images, challenging writing and ground breaking music kept it’s place. Giving yourself to Jesus doesn’t equate to losing your brain, or your natural desire to be challenged. The image of Jesus hanging on the cross is highly provocative. Jesus wasn’t someone who minced his words, in fact Jesus more often than not spoke in pictures. These pictures were stories that were designed to make you think.
So the idea of a pastor doing art is one thing, but the idea that that pastor enjoys doing thought provoking art, with a sometimes dark or strange edge does somehow challenged conventional thinking. Christianity after all is about the light, not darkness and gloom. So does Christianity compel you to only recognize the light as if darkness didn’t exist? Not at all, otherwise the Bible would be absent of stories of the fall, or make no mention of Sodom and Gomorrah. What about the apocalypse? It just goes on and on. Darkness like pain and suffering does exist. Injustice, greed and perversion make up the reality of the world we live in. Likewise love, kindness and compassion. Just as there are those doing wonderful random acts of kindness, there are those right now planning to carry out horrendous acts.
As a Christian artist I want to say this, don’t pretend like everything is always fine. You aren’t expected to live like that. It is okay to acknowledge the pain that exists in this world. This isn’t permission to wallow in grief. Not at all! But for goodness sake stop acting like everything is always perfect, because it’s not. If you do art, maybe in the form of painting like me, or some other art like writing poetry, dancing or song writing it is okay to express darkness. May I say that it shouldn’t become your permanent departure point. That would be very sad! All I am really saying with this blog post is be real! There is certainly nothing wrong with that! If you are having a bad day you don’t need to pretend that it was great, but you always live in the hope of better days to come.
Please visit my website http://www.nicfester.co.za to view some of my dark art. Paintings are on sale. If you like something let me know.
Nic Fester 