God and Art.

So yesterday, I happened to receive the above picture in an e-mail from my aunt. (I have asked all my relatives to not send me e-mail forwards and junk e-mail, but occasionally they forget and I end up with several in my inbox.) This picture I later found out was part of a larger Power Point presentation which makes it less confusing, but on my Blackberry all that came up was this first slide.

This slide confused me. Is God the flower? Did God create the flower, so is it a symbol of His glory and power - a reminder of God, if you will - or is the artist trying to compare God to a flower? How is God like a flower? How is God different than a flower? Is all the power of God contained within a flower? Obviously the artist wants me to draw some connection, but I couldn't seem to figure out which one.

As I often do when I can't quite figure something out, I begin to laugh. I imagine someone else looking at it and instantly gathering meaning, and I laugh more because in my typical professorial fashion I am over-thinking it. Then I begin to wonder, am I really over thinking it, or am I thinking it as a reasoning person should? Should we accept a vague parallel because we think we know what it represents, or should we immediately question the parallel, because no definitive conclusion has been drawn? Or should I simply let it exist, and let the viewer draw his/her own parallels from the image? Isn't that one of the meanings of art - that the viewer takes ownership of the deeper reactions, the intellectual and emotional responses art brings?

Then I wonder, is this even art at all? Or is it merely a photograph of a rose with the word GOD next to it? What constitutes this as art? And if it is art, is it effective art? Does the artist's intent carry through to the viewer? Is something communicated through this work?

I wonder here if the intent is carried through; after all I just glanced at the work, and am now incredibly confused and lost in an existential quagmire. Something is definitely communicated, but what is supposed to be communicated? Am I interpreting the work in a way that affirms the artists intent? Or does that again even matter? It is the process, the fact that I am questioning that makes it art, right? The dialogue that has been created between myself and the work is what is important.

But does art require questions? Or does art require reactions? Is an internal verbal dialogue required, or is it merely a guttural exchange? I think as long as the work communicates something to you, then it is art. Then to me this is definitely art. However, a newspaper can communicate things to you, but it isn't art. What then are the requirements of art? This I ponder as much as the nature of God in the photograph.

God is beautiful like a flower, but God is not fragile like a flower.
God is complex like the many folds of the rose, but complete within His complexities.
We prefer to think of the petals of a rose, and not the thorns - just as we prefer to think of the loving qualities of God, and not the darker ones.
God is pure, like the pristine color of the Rose.
God created flowers, so the flower is a symbol of God. Then hurricanes and earthquakes must also be symbols of God, because those were created too. (Like the invisible thorns of our rose.)
The reflection we see of God in others, makes the picture of God more understandable, and His complexities more real.
God is suspended in time, like a photograph of a rose is a suspension in time.
God is balanced.

Art is expressive.
Art is propelled by an internal desire to communicate - to create.
Art causes us to ponder the realities of God and roses.
Art forces us to think or takes us to another place (either way there is an unspoken dialogue between the work and the viewer.)
Art is what it is.
Art empowers us as viewers.
Like the nature of God, the nature of Art is complex like the folds of a rose.
Can God exist in Art? Only if Art exists in God.
Is Art the bridge between humanity and the divine?

All of this from a picture of a rose and the word GOD.
Things to consider.