ART, FREEDOM, TRUTH AND TRASH

We are currently beset by the controversy behind “Poleteismo,” an exhibit of religious images which included a picture of Jesus Christ with a penis glued on his face, a figurine of Christ the King with rabbit ears among others.

The creators of these objects call them “art” and, surprisingly, they are scandalized by people’s objections against their creations. And, they claim that demands to dismantle the exhibit are uncalled for as these would violate their constitutional right to “freedom of expression.”  

This scenario leads us to ask: What is art? What is the purpose of art? What is freedom? Is freedom absolute?

I see art as an attempt of man, a creature, to become the Creator himself. He expresses himself – his emotion, ideals, aspirations and thoughts – in the works of his hands. If art is an expression of the being of its human author, then it follows that it should have a resemblance or it should reflect the nature of man himself, that is, good, beautiful and true. Therefore, anything to the contrary is not human and any product which will emanate from it cannot be properly called “art”.

From here, we can now see the purpose of art: to express the goodness, beauty and truth of humanity and the entire creation. This is achieved by attaching the proper attributes to the subject of the art so that said subject can shine and express meaning by simply being itself. Hence, the act of putting attributes not proper or not part of the nature of a given subject violates truth, expresses ugliness and distorts goodness.

Indeed, man is free but his freedom is NOT absolute. Freedom has its limits. It is limited by goodness and truth.

This reality is expressed in the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines. On the one hand, we Filipinos are guaranteed of our right to “freedom of expression.” However, on the other hand, false expressions can be charged with libel or slander. This means that we cannot just say and do whatever we want. Our freedom is only made perfect within the context of goodness and truth, which, when undermined, allows freedom to destroy and transform itself into violence.

Now, let us turn our gaze on the “Poleteismo” exhibit. Obviously, Jesus did not put penis on his nose nor had ears of a rabbit. No one of us would be happy to be portrayed this way for the simple reason that we cannot walk in the streets with an attached penis on our noses and we do not have the ears of a rabbit. We will object simply because such portrayal is not true to our nature. This violation of truth consequently destroys goodness and expresses ugliness. Ultimately, such portrayal ceases to be art.  

Furthermore, we cannot defend the “Poleteismo” exhibit by appealing to our right to “freedom of expression.” Note that expressions are free only in so far as it expresses truth and goodness. Beyond these, we shall abuse this basic human right. Obviously, the creators of “Poleteismo” are guilty of abusing their right to freedom of expression.

Clearly, “Poleteismo” is NOT an art; it is a trash. Hence, I wondered why the Philippine institution responsible for promotion of true art – the Cultural Center of the Philippines – is hosting this unreasonable and arrogant display of garbage.