All art includes religion.. Why?

[Alexandria]

Ok not all, but majority of it does. In india, all their sculptors, paintings and even architecture include their gods and goddesses. Western art most includes angels, prophets, and trinity.

The only acception I can think is modern art (which is pretty boring). I know not all art is like this but most of it is... Why? I think if religion didn't exist, art would be completely different

[Linebacker]

That is why modern art is better.

No religion in it.

[Prisoner Of Ice]

Artists need funding somehow. So it will be either religious, or state-related (historical) or like modern art where it's just some stupid, pointless shit.

[Unome]

Art in its purest expression & form directly represents genetic lineage, such as architecture for example.

German houses are not designed the same as Italian villas, etc.

Art exposes the soul (or soulless), depth or shallowness, nature of humans.

[Kazimiera]

Centuries ago the Church ruled supreme. Most of the population couldn't read, so artists were commissioned by the Church to paint scenes from the Bible.

Today we are brainwashed by the junk we are fed by the media, back then the Church paid millions to artists (media) to indoctrinate the masses. :)

The same goes for the other religions. It brings people closer to their god/s.

[Minesweeper]

Interesting, only explanation you people have is economic one. :rolleyes:

Religion is ispiring. Even if artist is not religious at all he can easily be inspired by Bible, for example. That is the source of religious influence in art. If something is not inspiring, you can pay all the money in the world, it won't be a a masterpiece that lasts for centuries.


That is why modern art is better.

No religion in it.

You seem to be operated from aesthetics.

[Alexandria]

That is why modern art is better.

No religion in it.
Are you serious? It looks like a preschooler did it. My 2 year old cousin can do better than this... How come he can't get millions of dollars?
https://web1.karlsruhe.de/Stadtraum/Faecher/gemaelde.jpg

[StormBringer]

Interesting, only explanation you people have is economic one. :rolleyes:


Well, it probably had its role as well, I don't think artists bothered themselves painting for the common folk, that leaves aristocracy and the Church.
Aristocracy was probably more about "Paint my daughter, paint my son, paint my dog!"
Whereas religion was quite acceptive of artists' eccentricities and experimentations as long as their works conveyed various religious tales, and all artists appreciate free reign.

Another thing is preservation and reverence.
Every artists wants his works to live long after he's gone, and church art really exceeds from that aspect, great care is taken in maintaining and restoring it.
Then there's that feeling of awe and astonishment people have basking in the atmosphere of a church during a religious service, it's simply a perfect setting for an art presentation.

[Linebacker]

Are you serious? It looks like a preschooler did it. My 2 year old cousin can do better than this... How come he can't get millions of dollars?
https://web1.karlsruhe.de/Stadtraum/Faecher/gemaelde.jpg

Thats not the modern art I was thinking about.I had something more like this in mind

Things that make you think,things that you have to put your mind in,to unlock the meaning.Most often downtalkers of modern arts do it because simply they are too stupid to understand it.

There are meanings that can be found in any sculpture and picture of the sort,the person has to look into it to unlock it.
http://www.beautifullife.info/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/17/02.jpeg
http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/02/38/b7/bc/museu-europeu-d-art-modern.jpg
http://www.passionpalette.com/image/data/reviews/Tomohiro%20Inaba/tomohiro-inaba-61.jpg
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/3d/88/62/3d88623ac477dadb1f692b0381ca078d.jpg
http://www.smashingshowcase.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/beautiful-modern-art-designs-that-touch-your-heart-jasmin-junger-09.jpg

[Weedman]

Centuries ago the Church ruled supreme. Most of the population couldn't read, so artists were commissioned by the Church to paint scenes from the Bible.

Today we are brainwashed by the junk we are fed by the media, back then the Church paid millions to artists (media) to indoctrinate the masses. :)

The same goes for the other religions. It brings people closer to their god/s. not to mention in some places like ancient Egypt, the king/pharoh himself was supposed to be a living god and so whatever art or sculptures that had him in a religious context only served to solidify his rule and was more religious/political in nature than true religion.

probably some of the Greco-Roman sculptures were similar and they made just as much a political statement as a religious one sometimes.

[Anthony PV]

That is why modern art is better. No religion in it.


Sneering at religion is juvenile, symptomatic of a stunted imagination... Yet that cynical posture has become de rigueur in the art world—simply another reason for the shallow derivativeness of so much contemporary art, which has no big ideas left. [From Glittering Images: A Journey Through Art from Egypt to Star Wars]

Intellectuals chap my hide for many reasons, but when they diss religion, I have to go in with full guns blazing. A lot of academics think they are above religion—that it's just a bunch of hokum thinking for the subintelligent—that religion is "low-brow."

Well, naturally I have a few things to say about this: first, where has this condescending attitude gotten us? A bunch of splattered paint on a canvas that we're supposed to accept as the new meaningful form of artistic expression. I say "Hell no" to that. Because contemporary art has become too cool for religion, it now gives us a bunch of feminist performance art or identity-based expressions that offer absolutely no deeper commentary about broader cultural or historical issues. You will never really get what a culture is about unless you study its religion—and that includes its sacred texts—Torah, Bible, Koran, or what have you.


Camille Paglia

[Weedman]

you also have to remember back then, all people had was their religion

they didn't have anything else to explain things in life


even in big states like the Roman empire, who had a certain degree of modern medical knowledge, religion played a huge role.

everything was explained by the gods.

if anything happened, good or bad, it was the gods, if you wanted anything from something small to something big, you had to sacrifice to the gods

that way of thinking didn't really start to clear up until the age of the enlightenment

plus, there was always politics involved.

a king who was supposedly descended from a divine being had essentially more political power if the people believed it.

they just didn't have other ways to explain life or anything else

even when they did have medical knowledge or science they attributed it all to the gods etc...

their whole existence was wrapped up in it. for better or worse.

you're talking about people who lived in the ancient world where they cold easily die from just about anything at any moment

that made them want to look to the gods more.

it's just funny since, before the Abrahamic religions came along, the pagan religions really made no direct promise if an after life.

all people could rely hope for was to benefit their life in this world somehow if they sacrificed to or pleased the gods

that made them even more important to them, probably

[Weedman]

I also think since they didn't have media pop culture like we do now, in some sense many of those religious sculptures play a role that maybe wasn't as much religious but just as a true idol

someone could look at an image of a god-hero who was strong and know the tales and epics connected to him and maybe want to be like that as a person, or be strong like that

they didn't have things like we do today. there's so many sculptures and murals of ancient gods and stuff, I think they played a bigger role than just religion

maybe they were role modal, rock-star, icon, prophet, political leader, and religious priest or religious figure all rolled into one.

as for Christianity in Europe, despite how it preaches against making idols and images it's always been big on imagery throughout its entire existence in Europe and other places.