University Art Hop Part 2: Beauty is She

Photos & Words By: Brian Jules Campued

Beauty lies in the judgment of the eye. This is true to the fact that people have diverse perspectives when it comes to a woman’s pulchritude. And when this concept is fused into art, the outputs are always variant and the interpretations are different.

Still part of the National Arts Month, another art show was installed on the main campus’ fifth floor. It features several artworks and installations that are all seemed to present beauty, women, and the earth and society we live in.

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At the center, majestically stands an assemblage art created by Economics students (BS Economics 1-3). Artistically titled “Poll tion, Ed cation, Sol tion,” the gown is the students’ commentary on the alarming need to save the environment and combat the problem of garbage pollution. It is only through education and constant action that will connect the people to accomplishing environmental advocacy; hence, the incompleteness of the words in the title.

Another art installation in the exhibit is made by BS Tourism Management students (BSTM 1-2N). “Lethargy” resembles a female face in its wholeness and is made up of pieces connected like a puzzle. BSTM 1-2N said that closely, the seemingly intact face is in fact, broken—which connotes how women hide their brokenness from people. The broken pieces contain words of encouragement that are aimed to remind every woman that she is loved despite her imperfections.

Also BSTM 1-2N’s work, “Drowned Out Silence,” shows a woman who struggles to keep her head above water—thus, people who face depression. The art rationale stated that the white paint on the woman’s face is purity and motivation that keeps her going despite the inner and outer conflicts she experiences; the petals on the side signify the silver lining to a stormy sky that is usually washed away by the strong current of the water or her problems.

Meanwhile, BS Transportation Management (BSTRM 1-1D) students’ “Imperfercción” is an oil on canvas art that implies the essence of inner beauty in the world of outer beauty preferences. 30 panels that show several physique differences of people but the students argue that there’s so much more to see in diversity. Only through love and acceptance of oneself comes the appreciation of the value of others.

Diverging from the beauty and femininity concept, “Muerta de la Justicia” or “Death of Justice” is a coffee and cheesecloth painting inspired by the poor justice system the country has. The balance represents the adjudicators who favor money over human life; the tentacles, the power influential people hold especially in buying off justice.

From an objective stance, beauty is what the society has set it to be. While in a subjective stance, beauty is what you make of it. It all comes down to how the artists paint their own representations of attractiveness.