Netizens ‘haha-reacted’ under fire for ‘looking down’ on art of Catriona Gray

FILE: August 16, 2018 FilPAG Session On-the-spot Portrait sketching session (Photo: Filipino Portrait Artists Guild, Inc./Facebook)

Filipino netizens often become the subject of viral posts may it be through screenshots, videos, or posts because of their known wit. Either they are able to give a  ‘Filipino twist’ to any trend or they themselves become the trend in this meme universe.

However, there is a dark side from all these haha-reacts.

Catriona Gray’s win for Miss Universe 2018 continues to be the subject of memes among Filipino pageant fans, yet even non-fans have their own fair share of laughter. From the ‘slow-mo’ to the ‘the country where ___, PHILIPPINES!” many have their stomachs hurting from all the fun.

So when the Filipino Portrait Artists Guild (FilPAG) posts about her, it could be considered normal to have netizens swarming up the react buttons and comments sections. Except that, the ‘fun’ was not taken lightly especially by aspiring artists and by the art community.

“The Filipino Portrait Artists Guild feels honored and delighted to spend a lovely afternoon of on-the-spot sketching of none other than the most beautiful woman in the world, Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray!” this is how the guild captions an album that was created back in August, as pinned this December to honor Catriona’s win.

However, as the guild looks back to that “lovely afternoon,” netizens poked fun on the album especially on the artworks that were produced.

This was noticed by a Facebook user Ma Ra, who labels himself as an artist based on his about section and the photos of artworks in his profile.

Not even three hours of posting screenshots of FilPAG’s album and the comments and reactions have passed, his post has already garnered more than 9,000 reactions, more than 7,000 shares, and more than 600 comments.

“Only in the Philippines na kung saan ang baba ng tingin ng karamihan pagdating sa Arts. Nakakalungkot lang dun sa mga nag-‘HAHA’ react sa ibang on-the-spot portrait sketches kay Catriona (It is only in the Philippines where the Arts are looked down upon. It is saddening to see all the HAHA reacts on some of the on-spot portrait sketches of Catriona),” Ma Ra writes.

He continues saying that people should stop comparing on-the-spot drawings versus non-on-the-spot ones, as seen in the comments section where some netizens ‘question’ the appearance of some art pieces. He describes the technicalities of on-the-spot drawing to be a process that only spans from 15 minutes to an hour depending on the medium.

He adds that for caricature styles, the fastest would be at five minutes to 10 minutes. He elaborates more on charcoal portraits that could be from 15 minutes to 30 minutes and that mixed media needs more than an hour.

While he compares that non-on-the-spot drawings can take more than six hours and that artists can be free to do their art in comfortable hours and places.

“Dapat maging proud tayo katulad ni Catriona para sa mga artist na nag-o-On-the-spot, katulad nila dito sa bansa natin, dahil hindi basta basta ang mag-ots (Like Catriona, we should be proud of artists in our country who work on On-the-spot portraits, because it is not an easy process),” he furthers.

While as an artist, his cry for appreciation is expressed through his post, he clarifies that criticisms are always welcome and are not bad in general.

“Pero sana ‘wag puro tawa lang at bigyan niyo pa rin ng appreciation o words of wisdom para sa kung ano need i-improve nung mga artist na gumawa lalo na ‘yung mga nangingibabaw ang ‘HAHA’ react sa album, ‘di ‘yung ginagawa niyo na lang katatawanan ang Art. (But please do not just laugh and please give appreciation or words of wisdom for the needed improvements of the artist, especially those with a lot of ‘HAHA’ reacts in the album. Do not make fun of art),” he explains.

Apart from the haha reactions, comments included laughter in capital letters and comparisons saying that instead of Catriona, the sketches looked like other known figures such as President Rodrigo Duterte, Manny Pacquiao’s mother Dionisia “Mommy D” Pacquiao, presidential daughter Sara Duterte, internet icon Señora, Princess Sarah fictional character Loti, and many more.

Some even had meme-like comments like “’Yung level 10 ang filter mo haha (When your filter is level 10),” “’Yung nagpipigil ka ng tawa (When you are trying to suppress your laughter),” “’Yung sabi gusto ka picturan ng mama mo pero ayaw mo (When your mom wants to take your photo but you don’t want to),” and “’Yun ‘yung part na nangawit na si Cat sa kakaupo (That is the part where Cat is already tired of sitting).”

On a closer look on the comment sections of the photos in the album, while Ma Ra posted about this, even before the said post was made and went viral, many netizens are already defending art appreciation from those who made fun of the artists’ works days ago.