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| Holy Shower Beautiful Shit oil on canvas 7 x 6' Marius Black 2015 |
We had a group show
last year entitled Vitamin Shit, it's about how we take medicine and drugs,
legal or illegal, as placebo or not, working or not working or not really as medication.
Stuff like cigarettes and high citrus juices we buy at the store. It's about
that saying that when you take a dump, you should imagine the negative thoughts that's been plaguing you so that you get
to shit the negativity out of your system. The show was about a lot of
things, but for me it's about how we heal ourselves from past pain and injury,
physically and spiritually.
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| This poster was made by Jhemuel Salvador. Stare at it for too long and it moves! :) |
One of the artworks I
made was a self portrait entitled: Holy Shower Beautiful Shit. It's about my
experience one time at work when I got angry with a fellow artist during a
meeting with other artists and I almost snapped for some reason even I didn't understand. Later after
cooling off, one of my artist friends, now my girlfriend, spoke to me and told
me that I shouldn't treat elders like I did, that I should have more respect for
them. And I really appreciated that "scolding" or advice from her
that I eventually fell in love with her. :) But that talk with her made me
realize that it was something I was doing that I wasn't aware of, and I have
been calmer in approaching things ever since.
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| The exhibit was held at the National Commission for Culture and the Arts here in the Philippines. |
Later that night another artist friend of mine shared her smoke stash with me and we chilled for a bit and after that I took a bath. And when the water from the shower hit my face and body, I felt greatly relieved! It suddenly hit me that my short temper earlier was due to irritation because I haven't taken a bath that day yet. Some of the artists and I were staying at this place for a time in Palawan, we went there for a mural job and we were in waiting because the walls weren't ready to be painted yet. In short, some of us were frustrated because we had an exhibit coming forth, our artworks not yet finished back at our homes and we're sitting there waiting for the walls to finish as our time was being wasted where we could be finishing our artworks for our show.
So one day some of us
just got really pissed off, to a point that we didn't even want to shower, the house we stayed in
was close to the beach so some of us can go on about the day without showering. But I didn't realize that having not to shower for a day can
affect your mood.
And so going back to
the time I was taking a shower, it hit me how important taking a bath was. I
started to see something while my eyes were closed and the water hit my
eyelids, I saw myself having wings, flying in the vastness of space, passing through stars
and passing through tombstones overcoming life and death. I can only say I was experiencing some sort of enlightenment, of how something
as simple as taking a bath is as important as being able to clean one's soul in
a way that when we feel good and refreshed, we are more calm and less to scream
at people.
I suddenly thought of
Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist, of having to fully grasp the
meaning of it. That we are baptized in water, our heads dipped into the lake
and then are brought forth back up as baptized and maybe, it is just as a simple thing as the feeling of being refreshed. That we should at least experience a baptism in our lives so that we know how to take a bath. Back in Jesus' day, who knew if taking a bath was a thing, there were no pipes or faucets back then, maybe some people were even afraid of water then. Maybe being dirty is what makes people do bad shit, maybe being dirty is a sin to an extent. There's also a washing of the feet in the Bible isn't there? And as they say, cleanliness is next to Godliness right?
I also thought of the story of the Buddha having to discover the "middle way"
One day Siddhartha
heard an old musician on a passing boat speaking to his people.
Old Musician:
"If you tighten the string too much
it will snap and if you leave it too slack, it won't play. "
Siddhartha realized that you don't have to fast to the extreme to gain enlightenment, you don't also have to gorge and be a glutton for food, you only have to eat right every day. The middle way, is the right way, there has to be a balance.
All these things were flashing before me as I bathed, afterwards I felt really great and with a new understanding in life! So I decided to paint the vision I saw when I was taking a bath. Thus Holy Shower Beautiful Shit was made.
I'll be doing a full coverage of our Vitamin Shit show back in 2015 soon so keep an eye for that!
For now, I hope you enjoyed this article, as I am glad I could finally share this experience and artwork of mine.
I'll be taking a bath now! :)
Marius Black
Manila
11.30.2016
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