Posted on

In Voluptate Mors

Yesterday was the last time Cris’ family had to visit their dad in Bilibid. Surprisingly, her dad’s cellmate Abel had something to give me.

I only visited them once, so it was odd that he would have anything for me at all. Maybe it was because Abel realized the reality of being parted with a longtime friend/cellmate – he might’ve given everyone something to remember him. I mean let’s face it, I myself would never want to go back to that place given similar circumstances.

Anyways, the gift he gave me was a pencil sketch of Salvador Dali’s In Voluptate Mors, which is pretty impressive, considering he hasn’t had any formal training. See for yourself:

I never got to know what his story was, but I really hope he gets out soon as well – it would be an awful shame to waste such talent behind bars. If anything, may this post serve as a permanent reminder to those of us who met him, and while we may never see him again, may we remember him.

Posted on

Banksy

banksy

Graffiti, vandalism, policitcal statement, or Art?

Sometimes, there are people who go do the darndest things… but you end up loving them anyways.

Such is a man called Banksy, who is notoriously known (and wanted) in the UK for his penchant of secretly putting up works of art of “subversive political nature” in public places (Parks, Museums, etc.)

His latest work is a six-meter tall bronze statue which depicts Lady Justice as a prostitute wearing leather boots and a thong, in Clerkenwell Green – as protest to the British Legal System.

This news article was a few weeks back, but I only got to post it now since I wanted to include some cool picture along with this entry… which you now see on the left – It’s a doctored version from what you will find in his website.

My hats off to this guy, he’s talented, and what he does makes sense: His method is radical enough to be noticed… but not radical enough to get people harmed/killed. And quite frankly can be classified as art in its own right. An almost if not perfect form of protest… sure beats the hell out of rallies, etc.

Be sure you get to read his thoughts on his website’s “help page.” Sometimes the simplest, and seemingly most ridiculous answers can make so much sense for the simple reason of them being right.

Posted on

Thou art: good; thou art: bad


Why is it that people call art like this bad…
and this priceless?

Not that I’m judging any one of those artworks. It’s just that I don’t see the point of having something like The Museum of Bad Art, when bad art can be considered good – and vise versa. What exactly defines good/bad art? It would be easy to distinguish in the context of realism… but what about the abstract? Like those two up there, or Picasso’s works, or post-modernist artwork which just use a bunch of shapes and colors?

Sometimes I think that the art people look for is in the artist and not the art itself anymore. I dearly hope that’s not the case in the world today.

But in any case, I definitely think that sites like The Museum of Bad Art shouldn’t be in existence because they attempt to quantify something which cannot be quantified – in this case an artworks’ beauty. I say all art made for art’s sake is beautiful, unique, and should be given the chance to be appreciated.