Guitar

This is a Cubist “deconstruction” of a guitar. The Cubist movement was foundational for the development of Modern Art. Picasso and Braque, inspired by the earlier work of Cezanne, used paint to flatten the visual field as if a bulldozer had crushed the objects therein. Consequently, the artist was now free to construct a personalized composition that didn’t merely reflect reality—he could create his own reality out of the fragmented pieces.

Around this time, the invention of the camera served as a far more efficient way to record reality, challenging realistic painting. Artists answered the challenge with the development of Cubism as well as Expressionism, Abstraction, and eventually, the many other art forms we see today.

Creating one’s own reality might seem a bit presumptuous for a Christian artist. However, I often think of Ephesians 5:1: "Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children." As it turns out, imitating God by creating one’s own reality, even just an inert two-dimensional one, is quite a humbling experience.