04:48Paint it red! Filipino artist admits 'people thought I was crazy' after using own BLOOD in artworks
Elito Circa, a decidedly unconventional artist from the Philippines, has been raising eyebrows with a series of unique paintings using his own blood, as seen in footage captured at his home in San Jose City on Monday.
"When I first started, people thought I was crazy because, of all things, why blood? But I choose this because I have a different perspective," he explained. "People are afraid of blood and I want to change that perception, because if you’re afraid of blood you will be afraid to help during an accident, afraid to donate blood."
The 52-year-old has been painting with blood since the age of nine but created his first full portrait in 1992.
“When I ask the infirmary to extract my blood, they refused so I tried extracting my own blood and I was so dizzy doing that while I was painting this for six hours. Although this is just small because it’s very difficult to extract your own blood,” Circa said.
He has created blood portraits of Filipino celebrities such as Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach, former president Rodrigo Duterte and boxing legend Manny Pacquiao. He even fashioned an enormous 22 x 244 cm (4 x 8 ft) mural depicting the history of his home town of Pantabangan.
04:48Elito Circa, a decidedly unconventional artist from the Philippines, has been raising eyebrows with a series of unique paintings using his own blood, as seen in footage captured at his home in San Jose City on Monday.
"When I first started, people thought I was crazy because, of all things, why blood? But I choose this because I have a different perspective," he explained. "People are afraid of blood and I want to change that perception, because if you’re afraid of blood you will be afraid to help during an accident, afraid to donate blood."
The 52-year-old has been painting with blood since the age of nine but created his first full portrait in 1992.
“When I ask the infirmary to extract my blood, they refused so I tried extracting my own blood and I was so dizzy doing that while I was painting this for six hours. Although this is just small because it’s very difficult to extract your own blood,” Circa said.
He has created blood portraits of Filipino celebrities such as Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach, former president Rodrigo Duterte and boxing legend Manny Pacquiao. He even fashioned an enormous 22 x 244 cm (4 x 8 ft) mural depicting the history of his home town of Pantabangan.