Ben's peers

BenCab has just been joined by scientists in appreciating and contemplating the female form. In fact, he may be really glad to find sculpted evidence of and from his imaginative and creative peers of over 30 millennia ago. But if you are one of those whose budgeted sense of imagination makes them think that sexual themes in art are the evils brought about by decaying morals partly influenced by the Internet Age, you may have to read this column with your eyes closed.

She has been nicknamed the “Venus of Hohle Fels” since she was found in that cave in Germany. Your eyes might pop upon seeing this very graphic figurine of a woman, made from the ivory tusk of a female mammoth that was just recently discovered. It is 35,000 years old — the oldest sculpture of a human body ever found. The body figure is rounded — reminding me of Botero’s sculptures and paintings but it had the spirit of Neruda in sensuality as it had oversized breasts and “fleshy doors” covering the “wick of Venus” in its fiery southern end that, if sized relatively, could have been mistaken as another limb.

I watched the video online of Nicholas Conrad, the scientist who discovered this “Venus of Hohle Fels.” The sculpture is only six centimeters and as such, she fit in the palm of his gloved hand. He seemed genuinely thrilled at the prospect of having discovered something which could signal how we humans evolved in the way we communicated and expressed ourselves. His finding was published in the May 14, 2009 issue of the journal Nature.

Abstract art, made up of geometric figures, has been discovered in Africa in recent times and those have been found to date 75,000 years. But something like Venus of Hohle Fels that approximates real-life forms, according to scientists, speak of the way we regarded ourselves and each other and sensuality expressed this way certainly speaks of how we may have come to know our own humanity.

In all the interviews with Dr. Conrad that I have read after news broke out, he was very careful in interpreting the finding as evidence that indeed pornography has always been tied to our human history as far back as the Paleolithic Age. Well, even if so, I do not see what the problem is. But Dr. Conrad’s warning has not stopped science journalists from tweaking their titles. A headline in Livescience.com, in fact, even read “Obsession with Naked Women Dates Back 35,000 Years.” But I think, the title really reads “Title that reads ‘Obsession with Naked Women Dates Back 35,000 Years’ will really grab attention of those who do not read anything but text with ‘naked women’ in them.”  

In researching for this column, I was reminded of that bill proposed last year that considered everything “revealing,” obscene, including works or art for which we gave the highest recognition to National Artists like BenCab. That had Ben asking his friends to visit him in jail if that bill passed as law. But aside from recalling that idiotic bill, I also found images of ancient art from all over the world, with all sorts of what could now be regarded as pornographic scenes — between opposite genders, between the same gender and even one involving a goat. It would be senseless and comical to look to these artefacts to justify our lifestyle choices. Art does not to tell you that what is sculpted or painted is moral or ethical just like nature cannot teach you how to make your marriage work by asking you to watch naturally polygamous creatures in the National Geographic Channel. You do not dial the CCP or the National Geographic hotlines to ask about how to live your life. You have other parts of your brain for that. If you did not know this beforehand, you have more serious problems that this science column is grossly unequipped to solve.

But what could the little figurine tell us about who we are? I agree with Dr. Conrad that for science, it is more interesting and useful to know when humans started making such kind of art — one that reflected a leap in the kind of awareness we had as humans. When, how and what made us do lines and circles, then animal figures and then sculpt voluptuous women figures as pendants? Was this the Paleolithic version of the image you now have on file in your mobile phone when you want to show a photo of your partner to someone else? Or was this carved and worn by a woman to reflect her own self-image? We still do not know but scientists will keep on trying to find out.

I told Ben about this discovery and he affirmed that he is continuing this ancient tradition by, in his words, “painting naked women.” Lucky for us all.

So welcome, Venus of Hohle Fels, to the 21st century — a time of push-up bras, cosmetic surgery and the many secrets of Victoria. We can’t wait to hear the secret that you keep.

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