Ask God if he was insulted by the exhibit. Last I heard he's still on his throne, not up and panicking over Mideo's art. I've a suspicion the inspiration for that exhibit even came from the Holy Spirit Himself. Man was created in God's image, and the Vatican and 'moralists' have tried to reverse that by creating God in the image they like, and when something goes against that they react with indignation.
If you read the Bible, you'd find out that the Bible itself does not censor. Aaron the High Priest became leprous. King David, the man after God's own heart, committed adultery. The Bible never edited these scandalous details out. So, if you read the Bible, you'd find out that Jesus, while on the cross, took upon Himself all the sins and kabahuan and kabastusan and the indecent acts of the world. All. That's why the Saviour is the Greatest Artist ever.
For one, that's just the "traditional" face of Jesus, as proliferated by the Vatican for people to worship. It's not the real Jesus. No one knows how Jesus looks like, and the Bible actually forbids making any image of him. So it really wasn't Jesus Mideo put the penis on.
Besides, it is God who created penises and vaginas. It is man who sinned with these.
But if all art were symbols, then I can look at it this way: When He died on the cross, He took all these sins upon Himself. The images Mideo created were not beautiful. They were shocking. But they present a certain reality: that God took upon Himself the sinfulness of mankind. Who knew what God saw when His Son carried all the sins of the world? Jesus cried, "Eli Eli lama sabachthani?" I am sure not even Mideo's art could capture that reality.
Personally, I am against any form of censorship in art. Why won't the politicians crack down on Bench billboards displaying women and men in their undies along EDSA? That's way more public than an art exhibit in CCP. And that "photography" is not art. It's just commerce. A walk beside the Quiapo church has idolatrous images being sold beside wiccan black candles and pornographic DVDs. I once called the VRB and said pedophile-themed porno were being sold in Cubao. They said they already knew. But the DVD-sellers are still there. I once asked the peddlers if they have children themselves and if they weren't appalled by pedophilia. I forgot that some parents sell their own children out of extreme poverty. In a glorified form, at Willie Revillame's show, scantily clad girls dance provocatively, and a young boy named Jan-jan with tears in his eyes danced like a macho dancer to a cheering crowd. These are more readily available to the public than Mideo's gallery.
I feel personally offended when during the Holy Week when I want nothing else but peace and quiet, there'll be my neighbours getting a bunch of old ladies to recite the Orasyon or Pasyon using a mic with karaoke with volume turned up real loud. Here's what I do: tolerate, tolerate, tolerate. I tell myself, it's their tradition. In a way it's oral poetry, hence art. That's what I tell myself. I tell myself, sure, they can do it the traditional way, sans the technology of the microphone to save the rest of the neighbourhood headaches, but I just let them be.
I humbly submit Mideo's art can be used to share the Gospel... to show in a very visual/shocking way what Jesus did. He took our shameful sins upon Himself. And I'm taking Paul's attitude. "So long as the Gospel is shared." The whole idea of the Perfect Son of God dying on the cross for man is scandalous itself. It shakes us to the core. Every time na lang ba that there are people offended by art ipapasara na lang basta-basta? What kind of artists does the government want to create? Artists who make MMDA Art of pastel colors and basic shapes to cover up anti-government graffiti?
I won't take my own daughter to see Mideo's art, of course. If I wanted to share the Gospel to her, we'd read Narnia together. But Mideo's art has its intended audience, and reached very few of them. Nanalo pa rin ang moralists at ang Catholic Church--who would rather preserve its power than let the government save lives through the RH Bill; who would rather silence the families of their pedophile victims with money and drive around in SUVs.
Mideo's art just shone a light on a reality that most Filipinos have grown too jaded to face: in this "Christian nation of Asia" who do we really worship? Sabi nga ni Leo Abaya, sakay ka nga lang ng jeep. Katabi ng images of God Bless This Trip ang isang hubong babae kita boobs nagsasabi Seksi Lang Puwede Sa Harap. Sini-censor ba yun? Nope. Kasi dito, Commerce has become the god of the nation.
It is up to us Christian artists to continue to create art that glorifies. I may not create art as provoking as Mideo's, but I wouldn't create "safe" art either. Jesus wasn't safe. He was dangerous. He took a great risk to save us. Even CS Lewis said in Narnia, "He's not a tame lion."
My two cents' worth.
