THE CRITICAL THINKER

   On my bulletin “An Artist’s Role” I’ve discuss the important responsibilities of an artist. As an agent of change and possible indoctrination, artists play a very crucial role in society. Therefore, allow me to follow the discussion with what a person should do to protect his family and even ones self from possible intrusion of personal views. . The sad truth is “Most people have bought so much disinformation during their lifetime, perhaps it’s unrealistic to expect them to purge out all the junk they’ve accepted. Just as people in the world need to toss out their worldly thinking,”

The general public had accepted into their bloodstream the idea “Art for arts sake” and sadly if we take a closer investigation, that simple line had inter-woven itself from our personal choices to our idea of beauty, to our acceptance of personality and criteria for judgment and even to our education system. We accepted everything offer under the name “Art” and never realized the dangerous application into our daily activities. We thought art was too remote to be influence by the clever scheme of Satan. The government installs some measure to protect the public thru censorship and ratings but sadly the effort seems futile simply because they themselves were victims of the idea “Art for arts sake.” While the church innocently permits artistic freedom to proliferate, either they were not aware or the Holy Scripture had not touched the matter, or was it?

In the future I shall point out Biblical verses that some of you might have overlooked but were actually clear warnings from God about Artistic Expression and even how to be a God-fearing artist that create work of arts for the glory of God. In fact the second commandment directly instructs artist of what He doesn’t like to be crafted “Thou shall not make unto thee graven images…”

So, do we literally obey Jesus advice “if thine eyes offended thee, pluck it out; it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell.” Mark 9:47. Well, if you can then go, but if not then be a Realizationist -- There are many intelligent people in the world, but very few are actually CRITICAL THINKERS. My colleague during my college days have heard me share to them the infant concept of Gospel Art have help me shaped the lifetime vocation and thru the years with much research and prayers came to be Realizationism Art.

Now, some of you may have idolized these Masters or their Obra Maestra; and may even have displayed one on your wall or having daily doses of television shows that inject ungodly values then How do we deal with them? That will be on our discussion… 

     When Vermeer and the early masters painted Satan during the middle-ages with horn and bat-like wings with variation as having dark or flaming red skin it was received without much resistance even from theologian. In the same way as we accept common depiction of angelic beings. Or when artist presents saintly icon having “halo” over their head but  when archeologist finally step in and explain that those circle over their head was actually an Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics adaptation of a sun-disk as a pagan symbol of sun-worship. In fact to Bible reader, there is no indication at all that Satan was scary or ugly, the truth is he is extremely beautiful as his original Hebrew name implies “the shining one” that also means Lucifer. (No angelic beings or even the arch-angel Michael can match the description of the majesty given to him by God.)

    Clearly, the way we picture heaven and its beings were mainly based on painted representation or misrepresentation of artisan who themselves are ignorant of the word of God or historical fact. Sometimes these artists have personal beliefs that they pass on to us. When Rome was Christianized they carried with them their pagan religion thru their arts. The clever scheme of Satan (or Saturnalia, the sun God) easily mingle with Christian beliefs such as worship on Sunday or the day of the Sun. Hebrew meaning of Satan (shaitan)   is the deceiver, and thus he still enjoy worship even among them who profess to be Christian. Another, movement therefore acted and called us to go back to Sabbath for the Lord, and said the worship should be return to the seventh day which is Saturday. But again, they still fall on the same peril as the term Saturday is also called the day of Saturn. So you see how deep this chaos had been injected in our mind set? Probably, I’ll just talk later regarding the true Sabbath according to the Bible and which the early Apostle follows, since it is a separate topic. As I’ve said I’ll be focusing on artistic influence, but shared to you the background only to show most of our religious rituals are actually satanic practices.

    Awareness is the key to escape these deceptions, “See to it that no one takes you captive thru philosophy and empty deception, according to the elementary principle of the world, according to the tradition of men, but rather according to Christ.” Colossians 2:8 (NIV)

   The advice was not an easy task but an active awareness and careful discernment of everything the world presents. The Multi-media such as televisions & films had become the established authority where the innocent audience was victimized due to ignorance to The Word of God. So how do we protect ourselves from moral deterioration by the constant bombardment done in the form of entertainment and visual art?

    These are the words of God to Joshua before they enter the promise land “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth;  but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou may observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt have good success.” Joshua 1:8 (KJV)   

THE ARTIST'S ROLE

Everything seems to be degenerating before our eyes, from the establishment, news media, to motion pictures, to literature, to visual art, to education, to male-female relations.

     With that observation in mind, what was the role an artist play in this chaotic upheaval? First, let us dissect Art into diverse areas, to understand the root cause of the problem. What would be the first question? What is an art?

     Does an artwork need to reflect life or does life reflect art? Art normally falls on the reactive position, meaning an artwork usually describe the situation and at times suggest or direct possible solution. Music usually begins from an inspiration, like being in love and or from desperation in some cases. While, I do agree that certain artistic creation can inject new ideas, it has to start somewhere or it can not come out from nothing.

     So to blame artistic expressions (which were often used as alibi) for the decline of certain virtues or morale would be an unfair conclusion. The big question would be is “Does the artist a responsible unit of societal deterioration?”

     Therefore it is plausible that a well-intent artist with normal social stature can be a very dynamic agent of evil. I believed ideas have consequences, and that reminds me of Spider-man, “Great power, comes great responsibilities.”   Let me further stress that it is an enormous responsibility. 

ARTLOVER GROUP

     Last year I had very few individual work and would normally just add few item on my visual journal. The reason mainly was my busy schedule as Administrative Supervisor and the job would drain a lot of my energies. 

   When my job ended I took the oath to truly focus on my art. It was followed by series of blog sites to promote my art, especially The Art of Realizationism. In the process I also created an art group that I simply name Art Lover on tagged.com, these evolve into the creation of Tagged ArtLover Gallery. 

    One of the piece that started to re-focus my direction back into my art is this piece. This work received many great praises especially from fellow artist and even from total strangers.

   To those who are interested in joining Tagged ArtLover Group click this URL  
http://www.tagged.com/artlovergallery

 

CLICK HERE

TAGGED ARTLOVER GROUP on Facebook

Election Aftermath and An Art Work...

 Finally the election is over....I've been busy campaigning for Bro. Eddie Villanueva. Sadly my candidate didn't make it and rank only 5th place. Sadly he was not given a change to prove his worth. Anyways...in response to the said exercise of suffrage, I was able to create a work today. It has no title yet. Basically it is about the attitude of Filipinos in choosing a leader. They go for name recall and didn't take seriously to truly study the candidates. Well, this is evident among the leading senatorial or local officials who actually didn't perform, incompetent and sadly even corrupt. Like for instance Gloria...

  Well just observe the sad rendition of my work... 

On Social Concern

After The Storm

Nearly all of my artworks had been destroyed by super typhoon Ondoy...

this work was done after that devastating event.

So what can you expect from this blog?

This is my resurrection after migrating to a new chapter in my life. 

In spite of the many obstacle that happen after I gave up my 

work & decided to fully venture into a life that I 

always wanted -- to extend my share with this gift that came from God. 

This is perhaps my final quest for the consumption of the future generation.

Let us share. 

The Roots; The Fisher's Chronicle

 

   

To fully understand how Realizationism Art begun and evolve it is inevitable not to have a glimpse of my life experiences which is the very foundation of all my artworks. I will try as much as possible to be very honest although I reserve some private episode intact on my paintings. The visual revelation is what this evolving artwork is trying to impart...

    The playfulness or the spontaneity of my strokes and styles came up after those accidental turn (which is actually not a result of mere chance but of divine interference) and so I am oblique to reveal some of those important details that leads to Realizationism...

The FisHER Chronicles

The Echo of the Random Man 

Summer of 1985, when my life truly begun…it was one of those cherished moment in my entire life. It was also the day when I finally begun considering myself as an artist.

  

The Roots

On the eve of July 10, 1967 the drama started…my mother was pronounced clinically dead when I came out of this word. She challenged the existence of the Almighty in her dying breath…or perhaps her last cross-over request that she would be granted to carry me into her arms before God would take her…and then her prayers were answered when the flash of light fierce thru her forehead.

   The hospital staff was perhaps amazed at the wonderful works of God. If they still consider miracle as a work of a Supreme Being besides science. So I was special…perhaps…

   Yes, I always thought that that incident was enough proof that I would be an important citizen of this planet. Besides, I was baptized immediately because they thought I would not live long because I’m a very sickly child. Now after 4 decades I realized that the world would in fact exist without me…probably even much better.

   As a boy, I had to be classified as a mild case of Introverts. Although I have a normal social life of a little boy…I brawl, laugh, cried, peep, and jest. But I enjoy most, the company of my imaginary friends. It was perhaps very normal for a creative individual to act like that.  I never outgrew that fantasy world that is why I was destined to be an artist.

   Artists never grow up…. Always wondering and always trying new things. They must retain that child-like quality or they’ll end up in an asylum.

   I explore every available resource then…draw on walls, cabinet, floors, even on myself. That usually put me into trouble with my mother. 

THE HAMMERED HAND

   Yet, I was not groomed to be an artist…or to even think that I can be an artist. I can not draw anything unless it is a school project. My father was an artist too (No perhaps, maybe his dreams had died along the way) but never encourages me to take it as a serous career path. In fact, he thinks that artistry is for the elite…the chosen few….and I am not the chosen few. Perhaps his own experience taught him those bylaws. My mother approach to my arts was totalitarian….a hostility towards anything related to my desire to draw.

   So when she discovered my hidden artworks under my bed, she was so enraged and took a hammer and crushed my hand twice. Luckily my father was there to rescue me…it was a mild hit I know but it hurts and knowing the temper of my mother when she’s mad, she sometimes turn uncontrollable. My hands were numb the whole day…I remember withdrawing to my room sobbing…the pain was not on my hand’s alone but it pierce inside my soul. I was told never to draw anymore. I fell asleep…when I woke up; I saw all my artworks burned into ashes. That was the day when my dreams slowly extinguished.

THE REBIRTH

   When I enter collegiate life, I've felt squeezed from every side. I don’t want to be an educator but it was the chosen path of my mother for me. It was a daily struggle to meet the academic standard of PNC. It was the best school for future teachers….and I feel I don’t belong here.

I never know what brought me here, as if somebody led my hand

It seems so hard to understand my course was planned….

   God knows better…one summer afternoon on my 2^nd year; I was called by Dr. Gloria to drop by in her office. I was surprise and felt so blessed when she told me that she’s sending me for a free art workshop in CCP. 

   I was elated yet at the same time afraid to announce to my parents that I would be attending a workshop about arts. I was surprise that my mother simply didn’t react. She finally gave in. And with that acceptance, or partial acknowledgement my life begins…..

The Soul-Search

   The CCP workshop taught us to create portfolio of our progress as a student artist. The result was that I’ve accumulated tons of works and studies. After the workshop I did not stop and began my venture to discover my insignia…this brought me to my self-search. I tried every medium and experimentations available. Once I’ve decided to call myself as a genre artist, recording the daily scenes but then this period was short live since I’m more inclined into painting faces…not necessarily copying the face but the feeling…then I also venture into painting uncared object, like old shoes, slippers, and label myself as a still-life artist of the scamp.

THE TEAR-OUT STYLE

   To keep track of my progress I created albums to file these works…then by chance (I always believe in divine intervention) while working on a cover design I accidentally discover the tear-out style, which is directly writing on the artwork itself…that style I have retain and called my own signature style.

   With this style I began exploring my capacity only to discover my limitations.

The Glitch

   Since mostly self-taught there are areas that I can not comprehend or execute. The advice of my mentors at CCP to regularly visit galleries was encouraging and my only source to learn painting…all I did was observation…trying to duplicate what I saw in experimentations.

   Here is my first tear-out experiment, combining pastel and watercolor plus the first work to have the written word directly on the art work itself.

MY TEACHERS

   Reading is my best source of information. Not about how to paint but what the Masters think. I read biographies of artist…and luckily PNC had libraries enough to supply what I need…though not that sufficient. I also try to learn the various schools of thought in ART like classical, impressionism, cubism, abstract, and most especially surrealism.

   Science text-books also became my source of learning to paint. Albert Einstein had taught me a lot…he taught me about awareness and curiosity.

The Gospel Art

    There was a Film-showing that day by The Maranatha Christian Ministry about Satanic Music, back-masking and so on…it was an eye-opening experience for me. I was a searching lost soul then, already accepted Jesus Christ as my savior and begun to be an avid Bible reader since High-School. I read a lot about Christianity, religions, occult, and almost anything that would consume the gigabyte of my brains. I love information and this seminar that I attended enlighten me couple with another divine coincidence….I was also scheduled to attend that same afternoon an art exhibit at CCP on Fil Dela Cruz one man-show…he was called a surrealist.

   Both experiences mingle on my brain that night and begun to formulate another searching quest…the next day, I painted my first surreal attempt “Shriek of Tumult” and started to label my self as a surrealist too.

   Surrealism will enable me to tell the story I want to share…if there is Gospel music then there is gospel art. As well as Satanic Art….so I search…go back to reading more about history.

   I started to write this entire discovery and research in to The Preacher in Colour (1986)…now this was lost too. But some of the fragment I have kept in my Visual Manuscripts. 

THE BOOK-MAKER

Laboratory of Personal Experience

   Perhaps, I was more of a writer than a painter…I chronicle all my progress then, concise those things and create my collections into books. That is how my Visual Manuscripts began; by pure randomness of events…by recording all my feelings in my artworks…the philosophy, the angst, the search…it has become my Laboratory of Personal Experience.

   I can not recall how many times I’ve re-created my first Art Journal or what I simply label at that time as Junk Art…it was financially draining me too beside the blood, sweat, and tears I’ve shed on it. These visual manuscripts had become my Lifetime Thesis.

   Realizationism, an artist collection (recreated around 1995) was the incorporations of all my earlier art journals that span the era of 1985 to 1990s…at least those I manage to save…

   Unfortunately, I did not save some of my earlier collections (The Touch, Glimpse, The Literal Colours, etc…) due to varied reasons. Mostly moving and dying hopes ended the immortalization process of my earlier collection.

WHEN REALITY BITES

   After leaving PNC my artistry was set aside…I had to face daily necessities of a working man.

Chapters on this period will have to be hidden....

THE ART OF REALIZATIONISM

   Realizationism Art is a process…an on-going processing of experiences. Sometimes random that follows the dictates of feelings and emotions. While allowing sporadic images to come naturally and with all honesty yet there was intent to analyze the essence later. Therefore I coined it Realizationism--to realized, to internalize…

   In 1995 the neophyte concept begins from devastating experiences. It was my healing process why I recreate the visual journal Realizationism…time to tear down and time to be rebuilt.

Randomness and a static state of mind often hinder my capacity to finish a project. Ever since I started journalizing my art pieces up to now there are still no finish book….