Posts Tagged ‘Domestic Abuse’

Seriously?

Whilst checking my Yahoo mail, this headline popped up. It’s so rediculous, that it warrents a full quote in my blog.

Los Angeles (E! Online) – Rihanna’s beatdown by Chris Brown not only caused headlines, now it’s inspiring art.

L.A.-based pop artist Sham Ibrahim’s new portrait of the “Disturbia” hitmaker is based on the now infamous police photo showing the singer bruised and bloodied.

But Sham’s intent is not to raise awareness about, let’s say, domestic violence. Instead, his reasons for creating the Andy Warhol-like piece—which is featured in the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery’s new group show, Name That ‘Toon, opening tonight in Hollywood—are quite simple…

“I thought the bruises in the police photo were interesting shapes to draw,” he says. “And it was cool to color them pink and blue. Those are two of my favorite colors.”

Um, OK.

The 24-inch by 36-inch piece was made by transferring custom colorized blow-ups of digital tracings of the police pic onto canvas.

“There is no message to any of my art,” he says. “It’s meant to look cool hanging on your wall and that’s it! I’m not into deep meanings.”

Hey, at least he’s honest.

Wow… turning domestic abuse in to Pop Art, and profiting from somebody else’s pain. I don’t know what’s more twisted about this… the fact that somebody actually spent the time putting together a piece of artwork out of somebody’s beat up face, OR the fact that somebody thought it would actually be a good addition to a show.

Oy… people these days… *shakes head*

Love Shouldn’t Hurt

Browsing through PerezHilton.com, and he posted this NYT article regarding the impression the ongoing Rhianna/Chris Brown saga has had on their teenage fanbase.

To briefly summerize in case you are unlike me, and have had better things to do than be glued to your favorite gossip site following this story. Rhianna – 21 year old mega starlet with string of catchy songs – and Chris Brown – 19 year old clean cut R&B star with string of not quite as catchy songs IMO – were the “perfect” couple. Then, the relationship went sour, and he beat her up. Not just a smack or two, but hard core ass-kicking. I suggest you consult Google for further gossip. It has been reported they are still together, they are taking a break, they are robots, what have you.

The NYT article explores the reaction each artist’s fans have had on the situation. Most of their fans are within the lovely teenage demographic; where all is fair in love and war and the weight of the real world rests mostly on mom and dad’s shoulders.

Rhianna’s fans are infurated that she might possibily consider going back to him. Understandable. Chris’s fans – who are mostly female – are flipping the blame on to her. I’ve had friends in that situation, and the whole ordeal just makes my blood boil. We tell the preschoolers daily – there is no excuse EVER to hit, bite, kick, scratch, or maime anybody. To have somebody cause that much bodily harm on somebody else, who they “love”, is just wrong. To see that there is a large portion of the teenage population that just doesn’t feel the situation is wrong, but that instead it is NORMAL is just mind boggling.

Domestic abuse of any kind has always been one of those topics that is pushed in the closet and never talked about until it’s a forced issue. Having a celebrity powerhousego through what so many have gone through certainly forces it to the front window. Hell, even Oprah had an entire show dedicated to “The Rhianna’s of the World”. I’m willing to bet we all know of at least one person who has been in such a situation.

Talk to your friends. Talk to your kids. Don’t let this be a “normal” situation. If you or somebody you know is in an abusive realtionship, urge them to get help.

National Domestic Violence Hotline

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.