Art can be, and is, often seen and understood in many contexts. In museums, visual arts are generally pleasing, and looked forward to with great anticipation. Musical art, in concert halls, is seen the same way. There is performance art, like that of the choreographer Anze Skrube, that is in high demand. Graffiti is another kind of visual/performance art, most of it connected with gangs, but not always, when considering the work of Banksy and other artists who try to do something positive with their talent. Art can be defined in two ways, according to Adajian. One of its definitions is conventionalist, and underscores art's institutional features, especially noting how art changes over time, how some art goes beyond the traditional, and how a piece of art relates to art history, the genres of art, and so on. The other definition given focuses on the aesthetic properties inherent in art. This is more than what Adajian calls "art-relational." This definition goes to the pan-cultural and transhistorical characteristics of art that are also present in it, whatever form it might take. For this paper, three contemporary works of art will be considered. Two of them are performing arts, one primarily visual and the other primarily auditory. The third piece is purely visual. All three can be considered to promote social justice, or at least transformation. Additionally, none of the three is well-known, nor is the artist well-known who is responsible for the piece. Kseniya Simonova's Sand Art Kseniya Simonova is a young Ukrainian girl who, with her husband Igor, was struggling financially. An opportunity came with the television show "Ukraine's Got Talent," and Simonova entered and wowed the crowd with stunning sand art. It is visual, because the audience can see what she is doing. It is also a performance art, as Simonova creates the piece wholly in front of the audience. The performance lasted eight and a half minutes, during which time Simonova creates several pieces that exquisitely detail Russia's past, and the love and conflict present in it. Lindsey Stirling's Song Stars Align Lindsey Stirling is a violinist, and like Simonova, she first competed in "America's Got Talent." She wasn't really very good, and did not win, but by her own perseverance, is becoming a serious artist. She now writes her own music, collaborates with other artists and choreographers, and has developed a signature sound. In the single "Stars Align," she collaborated with the choreographer Anze Skrube, who arranged a piece in which Stirling participated wholly with the dancing as well as the violin, all of it simultaneously. Oriana Sutorius' Painting "Hands in a Light Blue Web" The painting, by comparison with the others, and indeed by comparison with the other paintings in the social justice website where it is found, is rather plain and spare. It depicts a number of hands raised as if reaching for something. Some of the hands are giving an "ok" sign, one is giving the "loser" sign, some are intertwined, and others are just reaching. The background is light blue, and there is nothing to distinguish the individuals one from another. Yet all are actively reaching, and none has grasped anything. Jensen's View of Art Objects and Spiritual Formation in the Christian Tradition Robin Jensen (3) talks about the difference between engaged seeing and passive seeing. Engaged seeing, she asserts, is a way of seeing consciously and being aware of that kind of seeing and responses to it, and by how we are affected by the engagement. Passive seeing, though we may be affected by it, does not register with us in the same way, or at least we may not be as conscious of the effect as we would be otherwise. Engagement that is sustained becomes a part of spiritual formation, as well as our aesthetic formation. She goes on to say that "[o]ur responses may be different from those of the person next to us. But no matter how we respond, we are slightly or significantly different for having had the viewing, or the hearing—for having paid attention. Maybe only a single atom of our consciousness has shifted; maybe a landslide has taken place in our souls" (Jenson, 3). Interestingly, a viewing of Simonova's work and a viewing and hearing of Stirling's single produce a reaction strong enough to induce tears; the reaction to Sutorius' painting is more subtle, producing only silence, but it is the silence, not of dismissal, but of near-awe. Jensen makes plain that these are spiritual experiences. Elaine Scarry's "On Beauty and Being Just" Elaine Scarry juxtaposes beauty and justice by noting the complicity between them. She says that "[t]he equality of beauty enters the world before justice and stays longer because it does not depend on human beings to bring it about" (108). The beauty of the art remains simply because it is beautiful, though humans may be collaborators in its production. The project of beauty is much "vaster" than we. "Even when beauty and justice are both in the world, beauty performs a special service because it is available to sensory perception in a way that justice (except in rare places like an assembly) normally is not" (108). The simple unhurried beauty of watching Simonova work, with its jaw-dropping detail while she throws sand around, or the choreographed beauty of a Stirling piece, the precision of it (it must be exceptionally difficult to play a violin while dancing and moving around)--these things are more than beautiful. They bring us to a fever pitch of emotion, they play with us as much as they are played (and Simonova's work is also play, vicariously like we used to play with sand at the beach, or in a sandbox) for us, and we are grateful. The beauty continues. Karl Rahner, In Thiessen's Theological Aesthetics Karl Rahner states that he believes that theology lies more with subjectivity than objectivity. Theology, in fact, doesn't "begin until it really begins to be subjective" (220). But he qualifies what he means by subjective: it isn't arbitrary, and it isn't just anything ("maintaining that black is white"). Rather, it is subjective because the things embraced by it are subjective: "faith, hope and love andour personal relationship with God" (220). That is the very nature of theology, to be intimate with very personal things. He says, "theology as revelation theology is the mediation of God's call precisely to human subjectivity" (220). At the point that theology is unable to be in this subjective relationship, it becomes bad theology. My reactions to the three works of art are of course subjective. Though they evoke things in my past, and are inclusive of my personal definition of art, there still is no objective reference point. Others may not be moved by them as I am. That is to be expected. Even with the artists it is necessarily different—whether Simonova and her husband eased their financial struggles, whether for Stirling it was more business than art, whether for Sutorius it was the work of but a few moments on an indifferent afternoon—all these things come into play. But not for me. Their art is what has touched me, that is where theology has entered, and where I am now subjectively moored to both art and theology, and my soul is deeply affected. Kim Berman and the Artist Proof Studio: A Journey of Reconciliation Kim Berman speaks about art and how we come to understand and know goodness. With art, we can become the whole selves we dreamed we were, "constituted for and by community and not merely isolated individuals directed toward private ends" (125). Ultimately, successful art requires a community. The artist, of course, makes the piece of art, whatever it may be. But it doesn't end there. Just as theology requires a community in which to thrive, so does art. Kseniya Simonova could throw her sand about all day, but if there's no audience to share vicariously with her, it isn't remarkable, and certainly not life-changing. Lindsey Stirling could play her violin all day, but without the collaboration of other artists, we'd never know, and be the poorer for it. Conclusion Art is meant to make us respond to it viscerally and emotionally. The responses of some people are different than they are for others, and the effects are different too. We are all, though, affected in some way, and that is how spiritual change begins to occur. It is individual, but also collective; it is subjective, but also universal. Though there is an artist who makes the work, it takes a community to produce it. Whatever else it may be, though, it is glorious. Art moves us, to greater or lesser degrees. But some of are more attuned to art's promises of fulfilment than others, to art's nuances than others, to art's associations and meanings than others. Does that mean we are more spiritual than others? No. Does it mean that we are more likely than others to be socially active? Not necessarily. But what it does do is make us feel something, a kinship with the subjectivity of theology, a kinship with what cannot be or is not spoken, something deeper and maybe more important. When we are like that, we approach art reverently, from a place of mystery, from a place of engagement. When that happens, art is most important as a guide to what lies beyond our ordinariness.
Works Cited
Adajian, Thomas, "The Definition of Art." The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2016 Edition). 2016. Web.
Berman, Kim. "Artist Proof Studio." The International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life at Brandeis University. n.d. Web.
Jensen, Robin M. The Substance of Things Seen: Art, Faith, and the Christian Community. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing. 2004. 3. Print.
Rahner, Karl. Theology and the Arts. Theological Aesthetics. Grand Rapids, MI: William B Eerdmans, 2004. 220. Print.
Scarry, Elaine. On Beauty and Being Just. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. 2001. 108. Print.
Simonova, Kseniya. "Amazing Sand Art." Online video. YouTube. YouTube. Dec. 26, 2013. 2016. Web.
Stirling, Lindsey. "Stars Align." Online video. YouTube. YouTube. Feb. 6, 2014. 2016. Web.
Sutorius, Oriana. "Hands in a Light Blue Web." Painting. N.d. Social Justice Art. Ottowa, Canada. 2016. Web.
