Van Gogh and the The Filipino Misconcepion of Art

How to tick off the common Filipino clowns? Sell a yellow male genitalia painting for Php 196,000.00.

Richard Gomez’s 48” by 48” painting of a penis made Filipino netizens burts into a fit of rage and spew
words that are too violent and too insensitive for comfort. The typical “peeNOISE”.

“Art” to a lot of Filipino, sadly, only means rea;istic paintings and drawings of certain subjects. Beyond
that? Garbage. Meaningless. Childish doodles. Art holds litle to no value to the people of this country
especially for thr boomers mixed in with today’s generations. A maddening misconception thas has been
deep-rooted in our culture that it seems impossible to thaw.

The recent boom is the various merchandise knocked off of Van Gogh’s paintings during the recent year
isn’t because of art enthusiasts increasing. If there are two things observed in the generation today. Their
obsession over things that are cute and their tendency to want to posses such things. These things had
been the gateway to the production of Van Gogh merchandise to be sold all over the place.

Art percieved not by Filipino eyes, isn’t drawn by the hands. It’s nothing so simple like moving your paint
brushes as if they’re magic wands. The act of splashing your paints on a raw canvass requires imagination
and soul- something that isn’t brassy and cheap.

Where does the value of art lie? Does it play in the fields of Richard Gomez’s black canvass on in the
boobleg pages of rennaissance painting knock-off prints? One thing’s for sure- the Filipinos Mindset on
art should change with the turn of the decade.