“Philippians 4:8–
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
These words have inspired a lot of bad art. False art. When taken outside of the Gospel context, they have made artists (and I include myself here) look beyond the cross, beyond Jesus, for that which is beautiful.
Perhaps it is because the TRUE image of Christ on the cross is nothing if not an image of total human depravity. A picture of humanity’s failure to be true, noble, right, pure, lovely and admirable. It was not a victory, it was a defeat. A tragedy of incomparable proportions.
When I read the words of Charles Bukowski, one of my favorite poets, I am reminded of what we are incapable of:
there’s no chance
at all:
we are all trapped
by a singular
fate.
nobody ever finds
the one.
the city dumps fill
the junkyards fill
the madhouses fill
the hospitals fill
the graveyards fill
nothing else
fills.
(Excerpt from ‘alone with everybody’ by Charles Bukowski)
Artists like Bukowski or Anne Sexton or Elliot Smith were INFLICTED by the failure of humanity. It’s an understatement to say that their inability to be anything but transparent in this regard was a burden to them.
When depravity is denied, art becomes a pathetic commercial for a belief system. Another word for this is Propaganda. (Admittedly, I have a huge obsession with some propaganda, but we’ll get to that at a later date). But when depravity is realized there is “transparency” in the craft. And it is through this transparency, this mirror of our depravity, that Grace allows the truth, nobility, righteousness, purity, excellence and praiseworthiness of Christ to be revealed.
Ultimately, in Christian art or non-Christian art, the victory of the resurrection is diluted in the denial of depravity.
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3 responses to “Charles Bukowski and the Importance of Depravity in Art”
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This was a song on country radio about three years ago. It struck me as a KEY example of someone not getting it.
TOUGHER THAN NAILS
Joe Diffie
Little boy walks in with a bloody nose,
Got beat up on his way home from school, aga-in,
His dad caught him running out the back,
Tears in his eyes and a baseball bat, oo revenge,
(Bridge)
Said son I won’t stop ya, but before you go,
Let me tell you a little story bout the toughest man I know,
(Chorus:)
You hit him and he just turns the other cheek,
Don’t think for a minute he was weak,
Cause in the end he showed them,
He was any-thing but frail,
They hammered him to a cross,
But he was tougher than nails,
Well he droped that bat like it weighed a ton,
Father put his arms around his son and said, just let it go–oo,
Believe me I’ve been in your shoes,
Had to ask myself what would Jesus do, here’s what I know,
(Bridge)
Whenever I’m in doubt, I look up what he said,
It’s all there in the good book, in black and whitnd red,
(Chorus:)
Hit him and he just turns the other cheek,
Don’t think for a minute he was weak,
Cause in the end he showed them,
He was any-thing but frail,
They hammered him to a cross,
But he was tougher than nails,
Yea in the end he showed them,
He was any-thing but frail,
They hammered him to a cross,
But he was tougher than nails,
Tougher than nails, oh, oh, oh,
Oh. my. gosh. That’s amazing. I gotta look Joe Diffie up. He might just be my new hero. I love the line ‘don’t think for a minute he was weak’.
Dusty,
Very profound! “The victory of the resurrection is diluted in the denial of depravity.”!!!!! Sounds like a t-shirt we need to make;)
Thanks dude!
Sean