On the evening TV news tonight is the resignation of Karen Flores, the head of the Visual Arts Department of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). This came about as a result of the recent art exhibit at CCP which depicted Christ in what many call as "lewd," "sacrilegious," "blasphemous," etc.
Former First Lady and now Congresswoman Imelda Marcos, the founder of CCP, was really upset when she visited the art exhibit the other day and said that it was "bastos" (lewd, crass). Several senators are asking for an investigation into the matter.
During my college days as an architectural student at the University of Santo Tomas (UST), College of Architecture & Fine Arts, one of my professors taught us that "Art is anything made or done by man that affects or moves us so that we feel and see beauty in it." I haven't forgotten that definition since then during the early 70s at UST.
To my dismay, I learned that the controversial art pieces displayed at the Cultural Center of the Philippines which caused an uproar nationwide are the "art works" of someone who came from UST!
I wonder what kind of "art" is being taught in art schools today? Is the definition that I learned back in the early 70s still applicable today? Or, is it already obsolete?
Articles List 
