Category — Lingual

I have been on a kind of negative tip over the past few weeks, doing more criticism than building. Perhaps it was my reading of Hitchens and the Four Horseman that set me off. Or, maybe it is just me, the moody artist type. I hope to move on to more positive things, for the sake of my own soul and the glory of my Lord. So, in this post I will attempt a return to my previous little project on the arts. I am running down the list of the Dooyeweerdian aspects and attempting a kind of synopsis of the arts and their place in God’s world, using Herman’s matrix as a means of analysis. This is part four in the series. If you click on any one of the Aspects over in the Categories on the right, you will find my previous entries.

The Symbolic Aspect

1. Every art-form possesses and expands upon a particular grammar. The medium posses a distinct set of syntactical rules that proscribes the message communicated. For example, music involves tempo, pitch, timbre (unique to each instrument), rhythm, melody and volume.

2. There are a number of principles that are shared across every art form. These include rhythm, contrast, progression & growth (development), proportion, scale, oscillation, movement, energy, equilibrium and its counterpart, tension & release, drama & rest. These elements are a unifying glue between all the art forms — from typography to architecture to music — the basic underlying forms of artistic expression are the same.

3. These basic forms are found in the creational structures that God has put all around us. They exist at both a micro and macro level of life. All art reflects these basic forms, regardless of the intent of the author, as the rules of existence are inescapable given our context. Plato understood this principle as demonstrated in his five forms. A recognition of this basic fact should be the starting point for all criticism of art as well as its appreciation. The artist reflects the glory of the Triune God, whether intentionally or not.

4. As an artist employs these basic forms, in whatever medium they work, they begin to form a deliberate signification that expresses a particular personal or corporate view of themselves, of God and of others. Within this personal language, references and suggestions of known, familiar or communal pieces can be reworked into a newer expression. This is both preservation and development. An altogether new expression seems impossible. Development is organic in any language and this includes the language of art.

5. We ought to avoid the reduction of symbolic communication to the use of words. Avoid aping current idioms without understanding non-verbal intent. Rather, new synthesis of current and past language systems might result in brand new expressions that bring glory to the Creator.

6. Understanding and mastering the grammar of any given medium will inevitably lead to more refined and powerful communication. To know a wide variety of languages is to be a fluid and agile creator of artistic works. Social solipsism is inexcusable in the heart of the Christian. As is aping of currently acceptable styles.