Which Way, Western Art? A Call to the Rising Generation of Creatives

“Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” - Joshua 24:14-15

All across America, new artworks are rising.

They stand, tall and unavoidable, in our largest cities, in our most public squares—not just as art installations, but as statements. These aren’t just statues. They’re cultural messages. Ideological landmarks. Visual declarations of what our society now reveres. If Christians remain silent—if we retreat from the creative sphere and excuse ourselves from engaging with the arts—these statues will keep rising.

The question is, what are these landmarks saying?

The Silent Drift of Culture

We often think of cultural shifts as subtle, invisible things. But culture is always made visible—and nowhere more clearly than in its art.

The Overton Window has already shifted politically—and we see it at the ballot boxes, where all Americans have the right to make their opinion known. But that’s only half the picture.

If you want to see where a culture’s soul is headed, look at its artwork.

What do our museums celebrate? What fills our public parks? What themes dominate our film, music, and visual culture?

Are we honoring truth, beauty, and dignity? Or are we glorifying distortion, despair, and provocation?

From Cathedrals to Foot Fountains

We are no longer living in the age of gold-gilded cathedrals and magnificent frescoes. We are not building soaring churches filled with stained glass and sacred geometry. We are building statues of self-worship, absurdity, and moral confusion.

In all honesty, I had to debate whether or not to even show the above image of Manhattan's newest 10-foot-tall statue, the 'Foot Fountain' (pink.) And yet this statue is prominently displayed in our nation's largest city, impossible for NYC's residents and visitors to ignore. So neither will I. Even the artist, Mika Rottenberg, commented about the statue: “Foot Fountain (pink) is an overindulgent creature from my drawings," meant to illicit shock and awe from passersby.

We have gone from Michelangelo to Marcel Duchamp—from The Creation of Adam to a signed urinal, a banana taped to a wall, and a caricature of something resembling body parts I will not even discuss here under the guise of being a 'foot.' And these facts beg the question, now more than ever:

Which way, Western man?

Will we continue toward a post-truth culture that celebrates the grotesque and ridicules the transcendent?

Or will we rediscover the power of art to lift, to inspire, to point heavenward?

The Power Lies With the Artists

This is not a question for politicians to answer.

It is a question for artists.

The next generation of creatives—today’s young painters, sculptors, designers, musicians, filmmakers—will determine the trajectory of Western culture. They will decide whether art becomes a method for glorifying God or glorifying man. For elevating beauty or deconstructing it.

And if the church doesn’t equip and encourage this generation of artists, the world will.

This Is the Moment to Respond

Art has always been a bellwether of cultural health. It both reflects and shapes the values of a people. That means we cannot afford to ignore the arts as secondary or non-essential. The stakes are too high.

We must raise up artists who understand their calling as sacred.

We must support creatives who reflect truth and beauty in their work.

We must reclaim the visual world—not for nostalgia’s sake, but for the glory of God and the restoration of culture.

Conclusion: Let the Western Art Speak Again

At The Majesty Project, we believe that art is not decoration—it is declaration. All art declares something. And now is the time to declare something better. Something beautiful. Something true.

So we ask again:

Which way, Western art?

The answer will be determined by the ones rising up right now.