Aptitudes of Artistry, within Quadrants of Belief

My friend E and I were recently discussing the fact that some of the world's best artists, who speak most poignantly into the human condition, aren't Christian, or do not/ did not advertise it if they are/were. We were looking at a quote from ee cummings on her classroom wall, posted near her desk. She's St. John's Great Books-educated, and probably one of my best-read, most artistically-savvy friends.

I think our observation is pretty true. The most intriguing thing to then consider is why God would choose to do it that way- speak truth where we may not expect to find it; have those 'get it' ("it" being life's perennial blows and how the inexplicability of pain, and the [seeming?] injustice of its disparate distribution, matters) who those on the in's might assume do not get it ("it" being, the true fact that God is interested in our redemption into His loving- yes, loving- hands).

Here's an illustration. Some Christian artists DO get it, both "it's," but the layering of meanings and capturing of paradox, contradiction, and felt frustration isn't quite as penetrating or intricate as another artist might have done it. It's still a good work, though. Below is an excerpt from The Chance, a book by Christian writer Karen Kingsbury. I wrote it down from my audiobook because it resonated with me. It's not exactly eloquent, but correctly/aptly captures that gut-wrenching fact of life -- irrevocable or incomprehensible losses, albeit without subtlety:

"How many letters had she written, and how had more than a decade gone by? The weight of it pressed against her heart. There was no way to calculate all she'd missed. High school and homework, prom and graduation. Thousands of goodnights and good mornings and everything in between. Her precious Ellie would be 26 years old now, all grown up, years removed from the girl she'd been growing up in Savannah."

It might be interesting to start a list of artists (authors, painters, graphic designers, lyricists...) that fall in different quadrants of faith: professing believers, unprofessing believers, professing unbelievers, unprofessing/ambiguous unbelievers.