Mideo Cruz, one of the featured artists explains: “I never go out of my way to offend; but I do like to provoke debates and critical thinking. Art is a way of expressing one’s views about the world, culture and history, and this is what I do in my work.”
And provoke, Mideo Cruz did. What, with crucifixes and rosaries muddled up with wooden phalluses, what else did he expect?
Imelda Marcos, founder of CCP says, “After seeing the exhibit I was really shocked because it was not only ugly, it was not true, it was not at all beautiful because there were statues and pictures of saints and Christ with horns and with his penis up and it was really a desecration of a spiritual symbol for Catholics.”
Minyong Ordoñez asks “Do artists ask themselves whether showing filth, porn, or sacrilege is art? Is human degradation artistic or abominable? Is communicating tabloid fodder the artist’s task? Or is it an artist’s masochist delight?”
There is a divide between the common man and the privileged art community of what constitutes art. “Art often needs authentic art critics to guide viewers with their musings on the thematic subtleties and symbolisms in arts,” says Ordoñez. “Poleteismo doesn’t need one. Any self-respecting Christian will see in Penis Christ and Penis Crucifix blatant sacrilege, and psychotic iconoclasm against his faith. Poleteismo is an obvious and odious attack, not only at the image but also of the reality of the gospel.”
“Thanks again to the ‘liberals’ at the CCP,” says Cito Beltran, “Catholics, Christians and even Muslims have become more sensitive and aware of the current practice among a handful of writers, artists, and film makers who attack God, insult and assault religion to fast track their way to notoriety and profit.”
More sympathetic is Conrado de Quiros who sees in Cruz “an artist and social satirist of no mean talent. I particularly like his works that show a man dressed to the nines, surrounded by the trappings of gentility, about to feast on a table of trash.”
He starts with the premise that “one should be respectful of other people’s religious beliefs. One should be appreciative of, or sensitive to, the passions they generate. At the very least that is so because of the catastrophic consequences of not doing so.”
“Arguably, Cruz’s works are nothing as subtle or tame,” says de Quiros. “They are in-your-face, which is by no means metaphorical, the most derided installation piece being the face of Christ with a phallus for a nose. That is guaranteed to provoke a violent reaction among believers.”
Cruz admits that “Poleteismo” is actually the product of house cleaning. He has been collecting various scraps of paper and whatnot with the general intention of some day putting them to use. Perhaps he would have been wiser to have kept all that trash where it belongs: a garbage bag.
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