Do you know what the most common subject of art is?  It’s people.  Man is fascinated with man.  Ancient cave drawings, Egyptian tombs, Greek and Roman sculptures, medieval stained glass, Renaissance frescos, paintings from baroque to surrealism, photography,  pop art—so much of it is about man.

Even your own art—the wonderful statues and self-portraits you’ve created with Mrs. Blecke, or the characters you draw in your free time at lunch—it often is a depiction of people.  And no wonder: We make art about people, because we ourselves are the greatest work of art, made by the great Artist.

Isaiah 64:8 says:

But now, O Lord, you are our Father;
    we are the clay, and you are our potter;
    we are all the work of your hand.

Yet there is a danger in making so much of our art about man.  If we forget that we ourselves are God’s handiwork, then making art about ourselves can cause us to praise the art instead of the artist—to think that man is so great instead of that God is so great.

Michaelangelo’s statue of David is magnificent, but nobody walks up to it and tells the statue how great it is.  They praise the artist.  Always remember, “[w]e are the clay, and [He] is the potter.”

Have a wonderful day.