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gackt_army2008-10-16 01:11 pm
karadin.livejournal.com) wrote in gackt_army2008-10-16 01:11 pm
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Art and Religion - a short essay
Art exists as a reflection of nature, but it also reflects human culture. Religion has been a part of human culture since its inception.
For an artist to create work with a religious theme, be it 'Jesus Christ Superstar' or 'The Satanic Verses' is to take certain concepts and put them in a modern context. The purpose of these works are to explore the metaphors and symbols that permeate culture, such as Redemption, Forgiveness and Enlightenment, not to mock them.
To say an artist 'blasphemes' by including a religious figure or a symbol in their work is not only doing disservice to the artist, but the notion of freedom of expression.
It also is a disservice to deny oneself the opportunity, sight unseen or unheard, to find a new concept to agree with, or, to miss a chance to discuss a different point of view in a considerate, thoughtful way.
Every work of art should stand on its own merit, and succeed or fail as it deserves.
But, every musician, painter, composer, writer, and Gackt, is also a person who has the right to explore these themes, in fact, an artist should be lauded for tackling weighty metaphors and challenging their audience.
For an artist to create work with a religious theme, be it 'Jesus Christ Superstar' or 'The Satanic Verses' is to take certain concepts and put them in a modern context. The purpose of these works are to explore the metaphors and symbols that permeate culture, such as Redemption, Forgiveness and Enlightenment, not to mock them.
To say an artist 'blasphemes' by including a religious figure or a symbol in their work is not only doing disservice to the artist, but the notion of freedom of expression.
It also is a disservice to deny oneself the opportunity, sight unseen or unheard, to find a new concept to agree with, or, to miss a chance to discuss a different point of view in a considerate, thoughtful way.
Every work of art should stand on its own merit, and succeed or fail as it deserves.
But, every musician, painter, composer, writer, and Gackt, is also a person who has the right to explore these themes, in fact, an artist should be lauded for tackling weighty metaphors and challenging their audience.
no subject
With that in mind, we need to consider the audience. While he does acknowledge that he has a fairly sizeable fanbase in the West, Gackt is an Asian artist. Those who buy his music are also predominantly Asian. Given this, I doubt he's going for shock because it simply wouldn't work on a large-scale basis. Most likely, he's playing on artistic concepts of sacrifice and devotion...using Christian imagery as a base. I mean, once you strip away the whole religion aspect from it, "Christianity" as an idea could be considered very poetic in many respects.
As he is a musician, I'm not surprised at all to see this from him. As he is a true artist, I expect this sort of perspective and depth from him. Admittedly, this is one of the reasons that I like him so much.
In any case, I do agree with the views on freedom of creative expression. If there are people who really have a problem with the fact that he is using this imagery, they might want to re-evaluate their position simply because it is rather silly to denounce someone for finding something aesthetic and worthy of becoming art within the confines of religion. It's closer to veneration than it is to sacrilege.
I'm done rambling.