Can artwork inspire you to be a better person?
Just yesterday I was traveling in Salt Lake City to drop off my sculpture The Good Samaritan to the Church History Museum for the second round of judging in the International LDS Art Completion. When entering the contest you have to submit a sort of statement about your piece. The statement I submitted reads:
“Some of my favorite stories about Jesus are the ones that he himself told. These parables teach us so much about the way to happiness and eternal life. The parable of The Good Samaritan has always been, and still is a story that speaks to my spirit. To me, this parable encompasses all of what Jesus was trying to teach us by his words and example. This story truly teaches of Christ-like love and compassion. It is easy to forget to love thy neighbor as thyself, and it is easy to forget that everyone is our neighbor. This story reminds us to be loving to everyone no matter who they are and what our differences might be.
In my sculpture The Good Samaritan I hope to portray the same Christ-like love and compassion that I feel when I read this story.”
While in Salt Lake I decided to visit a few Galleries and talk to them about gallery representation. In one gallery (I won’t mention them by name) I was talking with one of their sales reps (Not really the person I needed to be talking to anyway) and she took a look at my portfolio. When she got done flipping through my portfolio she said, “We don’t show religious artwork in our gallery”. I have never thought of myself as a religious artist so was a little surprised and asked “Do you think of me as a religious artist?” then opening up my portfolio of figure sculptures she turned to The Good Samaritan and said “well… This one is.”
The conversation was pretty much over at this point but I went on to explain how I strive to make inspiring and uplifting artwork. Although The Good Samaritan is a story from the bible, I don’t really view it as a religious story. It is an inspiring and uplifting story that teaches us we should be accepting and loving to everyone we meet no matter who they are or what their background is. This is a story that applies to everyone, religious or not. And I would venture to say that it is a story that just about everyone knows even if they have never read the bible. That being said I can still see her point of view thinking that by me sculpting this, I was a religious artist. And I will admit. I am religious; I just don’t always put religion into my artwork.
So with these two instances involving my sculpture the Good Samaritan I naturally was thinking of the artwork, the story the art was about, and how my artwork could inspire others to be a “Good Samaritan”, and treat others with more kindness.
After my excursion in Salt Lake I stopped to visit my brother Brent Borup (Who by the way is a religious artist) in Preston, Idaho. Brent was letting me borrow his tent and art booth supplies for an art show I will be selling my work at in Jackson Hole this summer. Now you might be asking “What does this have to do with your story about the Good Samaritan sculpture? Well… nothing. I just wanted to put in a little plug for that show. And if you are going to be in the Jackson Wyoming area July 10th,11th and 12th you should come and visit my booth.
Driving home around 10:30 that night in the pouring rain somewhere on Highway 91 between Preston and Downey Idaho, I came over a hill and immediately saw a car on the side of the road with the hazard lights on. The car was too close to stop before I got to it and as I passed I saw a lady sitting in the car. The truth be told I thought for a brief moment about moving on. I might have justified this by saying. It’s late and my wife would probably like to see me back before midnight. But instead a picture popped into my mind. It was my sculpture The Good Samaritan. The story itself wasn’t the first thing I thought off but the image I created. Of course the profound message behind the image followed and I knew I had to turn around. This all happened in a split second and I made a quick U turn.
I got out of the car and approached her car. She unrolled her window and I asked if she needs help. Her response with a tear in her eye was “Oh, you are such an angel!” She then went onto explain that her window wiper had blown off while she was driving and because of the rain she couldn’t see anything. She wanted to move the passenger side wiper to the driver side but she couldn’t get it off. Luckily my wife likes to save our old window wipers just in case of emergencies like this. I was able to not only move her good window wiper to the other side but I was also able to give her one of our old window wipers for the passenger side. As we were standing there in the rain, me fixing the wipers and her holding her phone up for light, she started crying again. Then she said “Sorry, I’m so emotional. My father just passed away and then this happens.” I assured her it was okay and as we parted I told her to drive safely and she said thank you.
Feeling good about my good deed I got back in my car and turned the key. Put it into drive and stepped on the gas. My car stayed put. My heart sank. I listened closer. It was hard to hear over the sound of the rain on my car but I soon realized that the engine was not going. I turned the key again and nothing. I was now stranded in the middle of nowhere with a car that won’t start and the lady had already driven away. I said a little prayer and started searching the internet on my phone to try to figure out what could be wrong with my car. Nothing seemed to make sense.
After a little while a truck pulled up alongside me to help out. Now I was the one that needed help and the Good Samaritan was coming to help me. In the end it was an easy problem that I feel a little embarrassed about so I won’t go into the details.
So… can artwork inspire you to be a better person? Yes it can. This is just one example from my life and it is on my mind because it happened just yesterday. I have always felt a strong connection to art and the feelings I get from seeing beautiful uplifting artwork. I hope that my artwork can inspire you and I hope that everyone can surround themselves with artwork that is not only beautiful but has the ability to be an inspiration in your life.
What do you think? Do you have an experience when you felt uplifted by a particular piece of artwork? I’d love to hear your comments.