Chris Hoke has written a remarkable book called “Wanted.” He has woven together his life’s journey, both his search for God and his ministry to prison inmates. But, this book is more: Holy Smokes, this guy can write!
In his introduction Hoke describes a moment in his life when depressed to the point of thinking of suicide, he goes to his local art museum. He eventually finds himself in front of a huge painting of what at first glance looks like nothing more than two solid blocks of color, one above the other. The colors are hazy, so soft that they draw him into the painting in his search for more.
At one point he felt like he wanted to step into the painting to see where it would lead him. With a sense of peace settling in his heart, he got himself together and moved on with his life, returning often to view what he came to think of as a window. He eventually saw that the title of the piece was “No 14, 1960 by Mark Rothkon. “I am trying to paint God,” the artist explains in a brief commentary on a plaque describing the piece.
Non-representational art, especially minimalist stuff, has always caused me to turn away in disgust. “Show me that you can represent something clearly in paint and then I’ll make an effort to understand your canvas with its swabs, blobs, and blocks of paint,” was my stance about modern art.
But, Hoke’s description had me look up Mark Rothko’s work. I looked at No 14, 1960 with an open heart and I began, for the first time to understand that this kind of art requires cooperation of the viewer. With his walls of color, the artist is not trying to describe a scene nor present an individual but to invite the viewer to an experience altogether individual and, possibly meaningful.
I finally get it! I needed the artist to say that he was trying to paint God. Chris Hoke eventually realizes that his life is an attempt to find God in the canvas of his life. I think most of us are on a similar journey.