The Christian artist will recognize that true art is first a depiction of divinely defined reality, and second a mode of communicating truth. Christian Art and Depiction Man, made in the image of God, is by nature an artist. But artists do not create as God did, ex nihilo . Instead, they take the elements He has made and arrange them into a representation of life. They make new combinations out of existing components.
True art is thus a depiction of true reality.
It explores God's handiwork, both earthly and heavenly, and portrays it in its medium. The philosophy of depiction treats art as a highlighter that sweeps across a piece of creation, grabbing our attention and directing it there. Depiction, as an artistic philosophy, recognizes the absolutes in God's creation as the external standard of order, reality, and beauty and seeks to build on these through its art. Depiction, then, must presume an order outside itself. It must recognize God as the author and standard of order and beauty.