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Monday, December 23, 2013

Pictures of ugly crucifixes

Continuing our post about crucifixes, here are some photos of well, ugly "crucifixes" I saw online.

I just couldn't get the idea what the colors are all about.


Makes me remember the ugly Orlina sculptures.  Just ugly


Can someone help me describe this other than...ugly?


Another reason why I hate "modern" art.  An excuse for someone who cannot draw or paint.

Just remember, sacred art is meant to instill in us a religious fervor, and recall the mysteries of our faith.

Crucifixes such as these do not even portray the wounds of the Passion.

They do not raise religious fervor.

And they are only avenues for artists who should not be creating sacred art because they are anything but sacred.

"But TPC!  Sacred art found in the catacombs are not that good."

Bro...we have long gone out of the catacombs.  Michelangelo and Rafael all taught us HOW to do sacred art.  Not Picasso.

Period.



4 comments:

  1. Here are modern church sanctuaries built at Singapore that some Filipino Secular Parish Priests wants done on New Parochial Territories to be erected

    Church of St Mary of the Angels
    Bukit Batok, Singapore
    Website - http://stmary.sg/about-us/art-architecture/

    Church of the Divine Mercy
    Pasir Ris St., Singapore
    Website - http://www.divinemercy.sg/aboutus/our_architecture_features.html

    And on Inculturation:

    Tang-Ab Retreat House
    http://www.teng-ab.com/?page_id=864

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  2. The 'silly string' version is nothing short of hideous.

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  3. Those "ugly" art found in the catacombs are actually more beautiful than all of this horrible rubbish in this post. I mean, what is more beautiful, this: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Good_shepherd_01_small.jpg or this: http://www.olacathedral.org/zoom/images/crucifix.jpg

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    Replies
    1. Great point!

      Actually those arts could have been excused if that was the best art that their best artist could churn-out. But if it was done for the sake of being expressively unique, then it is more of a distraction or sometimes becomes loathsome rather than uplifting.

      This reminds me of the crucifix, Mary Help of Christians, and Don Bosco statues at St John Bosco Parish. Ed Castrillo did a good job but his work hardly lifts one's mind to heaven. Another example is that horrible image of our Lady of Edsa atop the Edsa Shrine. Does anyone recall the Blessed Mother seeing that statue or a witch?

      As a related matter, I would like to point out the beautiful Byzantine icons that we see around, but look very unnatural for us Roman Catholics. Yet these icons a filled-up with theological meanings more than the statues of the Catholic Church.

      e.g. the icon of our Lady of the Passion. We this around very much but hardly know the meaning inside the image. It most popularly known to Catholics as our Lady of Perpetual Help.

      The Dual dimension instead of a 3D image symbolizes our poor human limited sight, unable yet to see perfectly the glory that is beyond.

      The gold gold symbolize Deity and Heaven. In facts, icons are called windows to the next life in Heaven.

      Blue - is a symbol of purity as on the cloth of the Theotokos.

      Green likewise represents purity, but in the case of the Child Jesus, it represents the purified or redeemed human nature, subsisting on his Divine nature (over the gold cloth).

      MP = the greek letter M and Rho or MR, shortcut for Meter = Mother
      ØV = the letter Ø or Theta and N or Nano, shortcut for Theoun = of God

      Hence the title Meter Theoun or Mother of God.

      OAPM = O Arkanguelos Mikael = The Archangel Michael
      OAPG = O Arkanguelos Gabriel = The Archangel Gabriel
      --- note that both angels holding the instruments of torture or passion which are the cross and the whip.

      ICXC = Iesus Xristos: Jesus Christ
      who became afraid and clung to the Theotokos or Meter Theoun, with his falling sandals , representing his passion and death that redeemed us all.

      The Theotokos' right hand holding that of Jesus Xristos is a symbol of the Mother of God leading us to his Son, also known as Ὁδηγήτρια = Hodegetria in greek, literally: "She who shows the Way"

      Isn't this a wonderful image or icon of our Lady and her Son, rich with all the theological symbols?

      This is why I find it a bit funny for some Catholic artesians to represent this same image in a carve statue or a carved image as though our Lady and Christ were coming out of the frame. It actually was meant to be only 2D to emphasize our limited vision of the glory beyond.

      May the all Holy Theotokos lead us all to her Son, Jesus Christ, the Word Made Flesh for our Salvation. Amen.

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