The One Truly Original Artist

We are constantly bombarded with images every day, most of the time too many to count. Often, we don’t even wonder where these visuals come from because they have become so common in our daily lives. It is so easy to dismiss the art we see every day because it is frequently the same images we have seen before. Regularly looking at our phones we see the same pictures over and over. Even when visiting an art museum, we are greeted by familiar images; especially in the modern art section where even the commonplace is labeled as art.  

It makes one wonder what truly original art is anyway. How can any art be completely original when the artist pulls elements from God’s creation to produce their masterpiece?  No artist can create if they didn’t copy something from life first; thus, receiving inspiration from God, the truest original artist. 

Many artists keep sketchbooks which are just drawn-out documentation of what the artist has seen in their everyday life. If the whole essence of an artist is to copy the work of the Creator, what makes their work truly original? Well, we know from the Bible that God made everything.  “The Lord had made everything for its own purpose, even the wicked for the day of disaster.” Proverbs 16:4. 

To understand what makes a so-called art piece true original art we must look to God and his handiwork; artists can only study and imitate what God has made. God Was before anything else existed; He never had to copy anyone or anything to create everything in existence. He is the One Truly Original Artist. What God calls good is good and what he calls bad is bad. “God made every kind of wild animal, every kind of tame animal, and every kind of thing that crawls on the ground. God saw that it was good.” Genesis 1:25 

All through Genesis God calls what he made good. God makes a big connection between his work of art and what is good. We can never be original artists in the same manner as God, but if we want to be original like how God is in his work, we must make our art good. Good is a broad term but the Bible makes it very clear what is good and what is bad. Follow what is good in all you do, and you will have a work of art. 

What makes art beautiful is how well it reflects certain aspects of what we see in our everyday lives. Evil is the opposite of good and it brings forth ugly work. When we try to create without the Creator, we are only able to fabricate something broken because we are not embracing what makes us whole; God brings everything together. Many people are attracted to forming something in their own image and not in God’s image, which we are made in.  

“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme overall creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see – such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.”  Colossians 1:15-16 

God is the one truly original Artist, but He is also the one truly original work of art. God makes all things new and renews their beauty, but He is also the beauty in all creation that everything else points to. Like sketches of everyday life, we are sketches of who God really is. Jesus is the firstborn of all creation and is the work of art we are called to look like. We were made in the image of God and are called to be close to God through the person of Jesus. We are not God, but God wants us to be like him so we too can be an original work of art.