It could be said that Art and Spirituality have been engaged in an illicit affair since art began. From the ancient mystic rock paintings of Aboriginal Australia, through to the epic works of the Renaissance and Romantic periods and beyond, spirituality has often remained art’s secret mistress, veiled in abstractions or obscured in religious symbolism, navigating her subtle path to avoid the taboos and customs of the time. Even today, in our modern culture, many in the arts world prefer to pretend that spirituality doesn’t exist, or plays only a minor role in the creation of great artistic works. In our current era of diversity, equity, and inclusion, it is ironic that the mention of spirituality can still result in exclusion, derision, and mockery for many spiritually inspired artists. One could almost argue that spirituality is now one of the last - and yet one of the oldest - social taboo’s to be openly acknowledged, accepted, and welcomed as a valuable part of our artistic and cultural heritage.
Thankfully, times may be changing, with the formation of The Spiritual Arts Foundation, which aims to bring this marriage of spirituality and the arts out into the open. Whilst only a few months old, with a membership already 80+ strong, this new arts organisation features writers and authors, composers, musicians, artists, and painters - each dedicated to expressing their own unique brand of spirituality to their audience, which sometimes numbers in the tens of thousands, such as in the case of singer-songwriter Ayla Schafer and her 194,000 YouTube subscribers.
So how far down the rabbit-hole does spirituality and the arts go? Although not immediately apparent, it only takes the merest scratch of the surface of the arts world to reveal the spirituality within. Innumerate classic painters and past masters cited spiritual influences to their works, some of whom - such as William Blake, Thomas Cole and Wassily Kandinsky - were bold enough to make these themes apparent, and whilst mediumistic painters such as Georgiana Houghton and Anna Mary Howitt were willing to pay the price for their transparency, others continued to shroud their inspirations in symbolism. The work of Swedish artist and mystic Hilma af Klint (1862-1944) is especially intriguing, as at first glance her paintings appear abstract and meaningless. Yet a deeper look reveals mystic symbols, geometrical patterns and an illustrative style that perhaps reveals her intuitive perception of a veil of reality that exists at the edge of our own. A margin of existence where the atomic Universe ends, and the Universe of spirit begins1.
And it isn’t just art that holds this special spiritual significance. Numerous composers and musicians cite subtle signals from beyond as inspiration for their creations. The acclaimed music and film composer Vangelis, who passed away last year famously said, “I function as a channel from which music emerges from the chaos of noise.” A comment that would imply that it is us, as conscious spiritual beings immersed in matter that bring order to a chaotic Universe. The idea of channelling to spiritualists is well known, but could it actually have a foundation in Science? Is it possible that our own skeletal structure functions as an antenna or aerial for receiving messages and information from external reality? Our bones have piezoelectric properties after all1. Perhaps artists such as these can tune themselves to the right signals. Yet listening to what passes as music nowadays, it might seem as if there are very few of us who are dialled into the right frequency. Spirit FM might be broadcasting 24/7, but is anyone actually listening?
WE are listening. That is why we created The Spiritual Arts Foundation: to provide a safe haven for those artists, painters, writers, film makers, composers and musicians whose artistic inspirations flow from their spiritual hearts. To represent and promote modern-day poets, visionaries and seers. To reflect on the works of the artistic masters of the past, whilst looking forward to the innovators of the future. And perhaps to inspire a new generation of artistic creators yet to come, some of whom may further reveal the subtle spiritual light of that Universe that emanates from betwixt and between the atoms of our own1.
1 Concepts first proposed by author Nigel Kerner in his 1997 book Song of the Greys (Hodder and Stoughton).
Article originally published in Watkins Mind Body Spirit Magazine July 2023.
Read more articles by Clifford White.
