Miguel Balbás: Where Beauty Meets Bold Statements

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Armageddon/Armagedón

and

the “generic patient”

Paintings below the text/Obras debajo del texto

present:

the work of

Miguel Balbás

Madrid, 1965

sound message; effective transmission.

(It is not that I want to be an artist; it is that I want to do something)

STATEMENT OF INTENTIONS

The generic patient (above) is victim of the excesses and exploitations of FarmNazi, a multinational pharmaceutical company whose ineffective solutions yield fat profits at the expense of the indescribable suffering of the patients that endure them. FarmNazi is a fictitious company, but its workings do not differ much from those of real multinational pharmaceutical companies, whose cancer-fighting products, in this case, are absolutely ineffective and cost exorbitant amounts. Patients are thus the guinea pigs of these abuses. Schemes, threats, pressure, blackmail, etc., are the order of the day, and the multinational companies are the ones to do and undo them as they please, depending on if their pharmaceutical remedies will bring them more or less profit. There are uncountable stories of drugs that have been recalled from the market because they are actually effective and, therefore, no longer of interest, because if they cure patients quickly, there’s no more business; or drugs that are recalled because they are cheaper than another company’s, for example, a foreign company’s. The executives of the national company pressure the government employees of the Spanish FDA to recall the medicine from the other country and introduce the Spanish drug, which is more expensive, less effective, more difficult to administer to patients (for example, parenterally instead of orally) and has far more devastating secondary effects. Personally, I believe that the cure for cancer is well known, but the widespread use of effective drugs would bring about the bankruptcy of the social security systems of developed countries (the only countries that can afford the high prices of these “drugs”). People would live so much longer, receiving their government pensions, using social services, etc., that soon the government would find itself in serious trouble. It seems logical that countries would ban a drug that does away with this disease in order to avoid breaking the state’s cash supply and causing greater problems, but we cannot allow the pharmaceutical mafia to make a fortune at our expense, knowing full well that what they offer is, quite honestly, bad in every sense of the word. The suffering that these so-called drugs provoke is indescribable when compared to the good that they do. Normally, the patient gets a few more months of life –if this existence can be called ‘life’– suffering terrible secondary effects, which, from a rational point of view, makes no sense. When the death factor forms part of the game, all considerations change. The patients’ deteriorated brains become machines of pleas in favor of the benefits of such products, and they are capable of saying “yes” to anything with the hopes of living one more day in these miserable conditions.

Most of these drugs are approved by the FDA, a United States organism in charge of giving the go ahead to these medications. The number of professionals who transfer from the FDA to multinational pharmaceutical companies is astonishing. Who knows if these jobs are given in appreciation for their attentiveness while working for the FDA. The cancer industry is one of the most important industries in the world. Many jobs depend on it. Mechanisms, instruments, hospitals, doctors, nurses, drugs... all of these things and people make up a fictitious industry whose results would not be considered acceptable in any other business. Suffice it to say that only 10% of the patients who receive chemotherapy treatment survive more than five years. The results are there. The drug’s benefits have not improved at all. What has improved is the method for diagnosing cancer, which, I imagine, is one more means for pharmaceutical companies to make a profit. The sooner the disease is detected, the sooner chemotherapy begins. The question that plagues me, among many others, is: how many animals are tortured, ravaged and destroyed each year to achieve such poor results? If companies produce a drug that fights cancer, goodbye profits. The days of the goose that lays the golden eggs are gone. In my opinion, it is a perfect scam between the government and companies; the former for social security reasons, the latter for their own profits. Furthermore, apart from these cancer-fighting inventions, the FDA is unbelievable in its recommendations regarding other non-patentable products that could avoid a great amount of suffering and illness. None of the things found in nature are patentable by pharmaceutical companies and, therefore, they do not bring in profits. If they could patent vitamin C and charge a fortune for it, they would be bombarding us with its benefits. But since this is not the case, they recommend a very small intake of this vitamin, even though the good it does is well known. Lies, interests and suffering.

In addition to the generic patient, I also represent the pain that we all suffer, animals included. Vivisections, clinical trials, overcrowded farms, tortures, fur farms, etc. Anything goes as long as some benefit can be derived from these poor beings. If the use of human beings in clinical trials were not prohibited, people with psychological problems would be next in line for these tests. Scientists stop at nothing; they are capable of doing the most horrible things in the world with the excuse that it is for the good of humanity. They are true Frankensteins who delight in their monstrous laboratory creations, inflicting unimaginable pain on poor vivisected creatures or testing substances that are no better than turpentine on poor unsuspecting animals.

To this list of horrors must be added the terrible clinical trials that cosmetic multinational companies perform, testing their miracle remedies on rabbits, cats, dogs, etc. It is disgraceful that this happens in advanced societies. What is really a shame is that if these tests were not performed in developed countries, they would be done in other countries with even fewer animal protection laws. It is just terrible. There does not seem to be any way of stopping this barbarity, but somebody has to raise their voice in their defense. Not everything goes; humans do not have the right to make and destroy things as they please. The pain that a cat suffers is the same as the pain of a child, a mentally handicapped person or an elderly individual.

Other main motifs in my works are those that imply pain, suffering, or both: child abuse, executions, Siamese twins, amputations, mutilations, tortures, the death of a loved one, slavery, child labor, the selling of organs, domestic violence, wars, children soldiers, thirst, hunger, displacements, stoning. What kind of a world do we want? This is unbearable. We are the metastases of the planet. Without us, everything would be better. Ever since we appeared we have done nothing but destroy whatever has come in our way and, on top of it, we have done this convinced of our superiority. Everything that happens always only brings about pain and suffering, for someone or another. It is a shame that pain, threats, and coercion be accepted means of action. In the first world we enjoy some kind of guarantee of freedom, but we only have to turn on the TV to realize that this is an island of prosperity and freedom compared to the rest of the less-developed planet. The bad thing is that this freedom and prosperity are achieved in detriment to the freedom and prosperity of less-advanced countries. Cynicism and hypocrisy. But are we willing to give an inch, to reduce our standard of living to improve that of those who have less? I do not try to offer solutions, because they are impossible to achieve, but with my work I do attempt to show that the world is a horror; life is no more than an obstacle course that ends in death. Yes, we live moments of pleasure and enjoyment, but these are thwarted by bad things and pain, our own as well as others’. What I never expected was that such a destiny awaited my wife, who died of ovarian cancer at age 33 and who is the founding idea of the generic patient. As a result of our hospital stays, my Internet searches and conversations with others who suffer from this disease, especially from the United States, I slowly gathered information about the cancer industry and its many evils. I added these ideas to others that I had already formed about the world and its effects on health.

This is a brief presentation of my concerns and motivations. Through the graphic representation of my ideas I have discovered a means of revealing the outrages, abuses, pain and suffering of mortals. Let’s say that my artistic career is a reaction to the horrors that I have lived first hand, which have been added to my already confirmed sad ideas about the planet. I suppose that suffering has been the catalyst of my compromise, which takes form in graphic representations. A contribution to reflection, I guess. Something that motivates and stimulates a debate, a change, a rejection of all that is evil.

I have tried to represent my works in the most beautiful way possible. Like the world seen from the moon, so pretty. But just by coming a little bit closer you discover all the horror inside. Formally, that is how my works are: pretty and decorative, thus making their impact and diffusion more effective. But their content is from the real world: sordid.

Paintings/Obras

Human Evil

16" x 24" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

In the center of this work is man, the incarnation of evil in the world. He appears surrounded by flies and with a cadaverous look to him. He has a snake for a heart. I have used the image of Leonardo because it is a well-known representation of man, although he saw him in another way. Concentric circles extend out from the evil, with ramifications in the following circles, creating transmissions and interconnections. The circles contain a motif of the evil generated by man, and this is repeated in decorative borders. One can see an evil person hitting a dog, a pederast Bishop, an Islamic executioner, an abuser who beats his wife and child, and the director of FarmNazi and the executive of the FDA looking affectionate, kissing each other and celebrating the pharmaceutical company’s success. Meanwhile, below them, the generic patient suffers the effects of the company’s substances.

Human Evil, Detail

Three Spirals.

24" x 14" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

Three spirals with striking colors, full of terrible scenes of abuse and pain.

Tres espirales.

61 x 35 cm (Aprox).

Témpera y rotulador.

Tres espirales de llamativos colores llenas de escenas terribles de abuso y dolor.

Three Spirals, Detail

6 Motifs.

16" x 24" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

Six strikingly colored scenes of abuse and pain: a girl tied to a chair (as happens to girls in China), a patient with a colostomy receiving chemotherapy, a heartless man (literally with no heart) beating a dog, an evil scientist experimenting with a vivisected dog, a man about to lose his arm in an Islamic mutilation, Siamese twin sisters.

6 Motivos.

40 x 61 cm (Aprox).

Témpera y rotulador.

Seis escenas de llamativos colores de escenas de abuso y dolor: niña atada a una silla (como les ocurre a las niñas en China), un paciente con colostomía y recibiendo quimioterapia, un desalmado (sin corazón) pegando a un perro, un malvado científico experimentando con un perro viviseccionado, un hombre a punto de perder su brazo en mutilación islámica, hermanas siamesas.

6 Motifs, Detail

Against the Clock + Sh*t World.

24" x 20" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

A series of disaster and pain. The main character is the generic patient, surrounded by sorrowful family members who see the inexorable passing of time and know that death is only a matter of time. They turn counter clockwise, thus expressing that they are racing against time. Babies in diapers cover their eyes at all the horror, which can be seen throughout the whole work; babies with horrible mutilations caused by cancer receiving chemotherapy, stonings, children forced to walk through mine fields, little girls tied to chairs, vivisections, Siamese twins, children and animals being abused, tortures. At the top of the work, in the middle, a set of parents looks with horror at the world that awaits their child, and they ask themselves who they are to be exposing the fruit of their flesh to such horror, and they wonder if their offspring will suffer this horror in some of its manifestations (Why not their child?)

A contrarreloj + mundo kk.

61 x 51 cm. (Aprox).

Témpera y rotulador.

Cúmulo de desgracias y dolor. El personaje principal es el paciente genérico, que está rodeado por los entristecidos familiares que ven como el tiempo pasa inexorablemente y que la muerte es cuestión de tiempo. Giran en sentido contrario a las agujas del reloj, queriendo expresar que es una carrera a contrarreloj. Bebés en pañales se tapan los ojos ante tanto horror, que se puede ver, además, por toda la obra; bebés con horribles mutilaciones cancerígenas, recibiendo quimioterapia, lapidaciones, niños obligados a pasar por campos de minas, niñas atadas a sillas, vivisecciones, siameses, abusos a niños, a animales, torturas. En la parte superior central de la obra, una pareja de padres ve con horror el mundo que le espera a su hijo y se preguntan quiénes son ellos para exponer al fruto de sus entrañas a semejante horror, y si ese horror, en alguna de sus manifestaciones, lo sufrirá su retoño (¿Por qué a él no?).

Against the Clock + Sh*t World, Detail

Big Bang 2.

24" x 19" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

A sequence of concentric squares of various colors in big bang style. Man is at the center of the work and, as the origin and cause of all evil, from him issue rings of pain, abuse and suffering.

Big Bang 2.

61 x 49 cm. (Aprox).

Témpera y rotulador.

Sucesión de cuadrados concéntricos de diversos colores a modo de big bang. En el centro de la obra se encuentra el hombre y a partir de él, como origen y causa de todo lo malo, se suceden los anillos de dolor, abuso y sufrimiento.

Big Bang 2, Detail

Big Bang B/W.

24" x 15" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

A series of scenes and characters that represent pain and suffering.

Big bang byn.

71 x 38 cm (Aprox).

Témpera y rotulador.

Cúmulo de escenas y personajes que representan el dolor y el sufrimiento.

Big Bang B/W, Detail

Big Bang B/W II.

24" x 19" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

A series of scenes and characters that represent pain and suffering.

Big Bang ByN II.

61 x 48 cm (Aprox).

Témpera y rotulador.

Cúmulo de escenas y personajes que representan el dolor y el sufrimiento.

Big Bang B/W II, Detail

Big Bang Red and Black.

24" x 19" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

A sequence of concentric squares of various colors in big bang style. Man is at the center of the work and, as the origin and cause of all evil, from him issue rings of pain, abuse and suffering.

Big Bang Rojo y Negro.

61 x 48 cm (Aprox).

Témpera y rotulador.

Big Bang Red and Black, Detail

FarmNazi Scientists.

24" x 15" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

Several scenes that depict satisfied scientists “investigating” in their laboratories, inflicting indescribable harm on poor, vivisected animals, experimenting with Siamese twins, cats, children, babies, creating impossible monsters.

Científicos de FarmNazi.

61 x 40 cm (Aprox).

Témpera y rotulador.

Varias escenas en las que se ve a satisfechos científicos “investigando” en sus laboratorios. Infligiendo un daño indecible a pobres animales viviseccionados, experimentando con siameses, gatos, niños, bebés, creando monstruos imposibles.

FarmNazi Scientists, Detail

Sharing.

24" X 16 (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

A pair of generic patients shares the same bottle of chemotherapy.

Compartir.

61 x 42 cm (Aprox).

Témpera y rotulador.

Pareja de pacientes genéricos compartiendo una misma botella de quimioterapia.

Sharing, Detail

Secondary Effects.

24" x 6" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

Patient receiving chemotherapy. The work depicts the drug’s progression and how it affects the health of the patient who, after taking the medicine and losing all hair, succumbs to this cancer, which only advanced and metastasized with the chemotherapy. At the end, a crab rises up in victory behind the coffin.

Efectos secundarios.

61 x 15 cm (Aprox).

Témpera y rotulador.

Paciente recibiendo quimioterapia. Se ve la progresión de la medicina y cómo ésta afecta a la salud del paciente que, tras consumirse y perder el pelo, sucumbe al cáncer que no hizo sino avanzar con la quimioterapia y metastatizarse. Al final, se ve a un cangrejo alzarse victorioso tras el ataúd.

Secondary Effects, Detail

Spiral 4.

24" x 30" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

Spiral with vivid colors, full of scenes of pain and suffering.

Espiral 4.

61 x 76 cm (Aprox).

Témpera y rotulador.

Espiral de vivos colores llena de escenas de dolor y sufrimiento.

Spiral 4, Detail

Spiral 5.

19" x 24"(Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

Spiral in red, white and black, full of scenes of pain and suffering.

Espiral 5.

48 x 61 cm (Aprox).

Témpera y rotulador.

Espiral en rojo, blanco y negro llena de escenas de dolor y sufrimiento.

Spiral 5, Detail

Spiral.

24" x 19" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

Spiral in red, white, yellow and black, full of scenes of pain and suffering.

Espiral.

38 x 48 cm (Aprox).

Témpera y rotulador.

Espiral en rojo, blanco, amarillo y negro llena de escenas de dolor y sufrimiento.

Spiral, Detail

Double Spiral 1.

20" x 13" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

Double spiral in red, white, yellow and black, full of scenes of pain and suffering.

Espiral doble 1.

50 x 36 cm. (Aprox).

Témpera y rotulador.

Espiral doble en rojo, blanco, amarillo y negro llena de escenas de dolor y sufrimiento.

Double Spiral 1, Detail

Spiral III.

24" x 12" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

Spiral in orange, white, yellow and black, full of scenes of pain and suffering.

Espiral III.

61 x 51 cm (Aprox).

Témpera y rotulador.

Espiral en naranja, blanco, amarillo y negro llena de escenas de dolor y sufrimiento.

Spiral III, Detail

FarmNazi Moves.

24" x 6" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

Five generic patients suffering the ravages of FarmNazi’s drugs. FarmNazi’s logo, the swastika with a drop of blood, revolves behind them, indicating the constant advance and progress of the multinational company, as well as their operating capacity (they’re up to their usual tricks).

FarmNazi se mueve.

61 x 15 cm (Aprox).

Témpera y rotulador.

Cinco pacientes genéricos sufriendo los estragos de los fármacos de FarmNazi cuyo logo, la esvástica con una gota de sangre, gira tras ellos significando el constante avance y progreso de la multinacional, así como su operatividad (hace de las suyas).

FarmNazi Moves, Detail

FarmNazi and Ex FDA.

24" x 6" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

The President of FarmNazi and a former high-ranking FDA official congratulate each other on the good results of the multinational pharmaceutical company’s stocks, in contrast to the suffering of the generic patient who sees that the more medicine it takes, the more cancer it has.

FarmNazi y Ex FDA.

61 x 15 cm (Aprox).

Témpera y rotulador.

Presidente de FarmNazi y un ex alto cargo de la FDA se felicitan por los buenos resultados bursátiles de la multinacional farmacéutica, en contraste con el sufrimiento del paciente genérico que ve como cuanto más fármaco recibe, más cáncer tiene.

FarmNazi and Ex FDA, Detail

FDA and FarmNazi Executives Celebrate the Results of the Latest Approved Medicine.

24" x 24" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

(There is not black background).

A very decorative work structured in concentric circles. Executives from FarmNazi (represented as pigs) and the FDA (with a questionable appearance of being champions of good) celebrate, hand in hand, the results of the latest drug approved by the FDA (whether they be financial or therapeutic results is unknown). In contrast, also depicted are scenes of the suffering that the use of this medicine generates in sick people. In the middle of the work is the generic patient as an objective (target) of the multinational company and the government. Note that the FarmNazi and FDA executives are of the same skin color, signifying that they are one and the same; observe also how, in a clear allusion to the quality of the product, flies swarm around the bags of substance administered to the generic patients, who border the work.

Jefes de FDA y FarmNazi celebran resultados último fármaco aprobado.

60 x 60 cm (Aprox).

(No tiene el fondo negro).

Témpera y rotulador.

Obra muy decorativa estructurada en círculos concéntricos. Ejecutivos de FarmNazi (representados como cerdos) y de la FDA (con dudoso aspecto de paladines del bien) celebran cogidos de las manos los resultados del último fármaco aprobado por la FDA (no se sabe si resultados financieros o terapéuticos). En contraste, se ven escenas del sufrimiento que genera en los enfermos la administración de dicho fármaco. En el centro de la obra, el paciente genérico como objetivo (diana) de la multinacional y la administración. Nótese el mismo color de piel de los ejecutivos de FarmNazi y la FDA, significando que son la misma cosa, y cómo las moscas, en clara alusión a la calidad del producto, rodean las bolsas de la sustancia que se administra a los pacientes genéricos que bordean en cenefa la obra,

FDA and FarmNazi Executives Celebrate the Results of the Latest Approved Medicine, Detail

The Wheel of Disaster.

24" x 18" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

The generic patient is the main motif of this decorative work. Around the patient, concentric borders follow one after another with more generic patients in them. Another border contains a colostomy patient with a crown on his head, ironically signifying the sad destiny that awaits the king of creation, who is a poor sick person consumed by illness and deprived of the most basic functions, waiting for a near and painful death that has no remedy. Another border completes the work, with generic patients and a buffer zone that will soon be overcome by all the viruses, evils and miasmas that surround us in real life.

La rueda de la desgracia.

61 x 45 cm (Aprox).

Témpera y rotulador.

El paciente genérico como motivo principal de esta decorativa obra. A su alrededor se suceden cenefas concéntricas de más pacientes genéricos y una siguiente de un enfermo con colostomía con una corona sobre la cabeza significando irónicamente el triste destino que aguarda al rey de la creación, como un pobre enfermo consumido por la enfermedad y privado de sus más básicas funciones esperando una muerte cercana y dolorosa para la que no hay remedio. Se completa la obra con otra cenefa de pacientes genéricos y una zona búfer que pronto será superada por todos los virus, males y miasmas que nos rodean en la vida real.

The Wheel of Disaster, Detail

Disasters Never Come Alone.

24" x 5.7" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

As occurs in our society, where evil and pain seem to hide all over the place, the same thing happens with suffering and all things ugly (Where are the crippled, the Siamese twins, the cancer victims who suffer terrible amputations, the abused children that the church pays to keep quiet about what happened to them?). In this work camouflaged scenes of pain and suffering appear vertically, one after another. Upon closer observation, one can see a bishop abusing a child, a man kicking a baby, a man abusing a pregnant woman, a prisoner about to be executed.

Las desgracias nunca vienen solas.

100 x 24 cm (Aprox).

Témpera y rotulador.

Tal y como pasa en nuestra sociedad, que desde todas partes parece quererse ocultar lo malo y doloroso, así como el sufrimiento y lo feo (¿Dónde están los tullidos, los siameses, los enfermos de cáncer que sufren terribles amputaciones, los niños abusados a los que la iglesia paga para que no revelen lo ocurrido?), en esta obra se suceden verticalmente escenas de dolor y sufrimiento camufladas. Observando con atención, se puede ver a un obispo abusando de un niño, un hombre pateando a un bebé, un hombre abusando de una mujer embarazada, un reo a punto de ser ejecutado.

Disasters Never Come Alone, Detail

Mandala I.

24" x 15" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

Decorative work in bright colors, full of scenes of pain and suffering. One of the last scenes added is the abuse that Asian servants – from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, etc. – suffer at the hands of their masters in Arab countries. The lack of the most basic human rights is absolute, and the stories are horrifying. These servants, most of whom are women, are the last pariahs of these oligarchic countries ruled by rigid feudal Islamic monarchies. These poor women suffer all kinds of torture, mistreatment and humiliations, and their abusers remain absolutely unpunished. They are beaten, raped, burned and made to work like slaves in a sordid environment in which they are often made the scapegoats of all the punishable acts that might occur. Unfounded accusations of, for example, robberies that they did not commit and against which they must fight with absolutely no legal protection in an unjust, corrupt and inhuman judicial system that often ends in execution, mutilation, battery, etc. Another scene depicts “dog hangings.” When dogs are no longer of use to their owners, these heartless people often put an end to the lives of their faithful companions by hanging them in trees, thus inflicting terrible suffering on these poor animals, who see how their adored owners kill them in this savage way.

Mandala I.

61 x 38 cm (Aprox).

Témpera y rotulador.

Decorativa obra en vivos colores llena de escenas de dolor y sufrimiento. Una de las últimas escenas añadidas es la del abuso que sufre el servicio doméstico asiático - de Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Filipinas, etc -a manos de sus amos en países árabes. La inexistencia de los más básicos derechos humanos es total y los relatos son escalofriantes. Estas, en su mayoría mujeres, son las últimas parias de esos países oligarcas regidos por férreas monarquías feudales islámicas. Estas pobres mujeres sufren todo tipo de torturas, malos tratos y vejaciones de las que sus causantes quedan absolutamente impunes. Las pegan, violan, queman y hacen trabajar como esclavas en un ambiente sórdido del que habitualmente son el chivo expiatorio de todo lo punible que pueda suceder. Acusaciones infundadas de, por ejemplo, robos de los que son inocentes y a las que tienen que hacer frente en una total desprotección legal y ante un sistema judicial injusto, corrupto e inhumano que a menudo termina en ejecución, mutilación, apaleamiento etc. Otra escena es la del “ahorcaperros”. Estos desalmados sujetos suelen poner fin a sus fieles acompañantes, cuando ya no les son de utilidad, ahorcándolos en árboles, infligiendo así un terrible sufrimiento en estos pobres bichos que ven como su adorado amo pone fin a sus vidas de este salvaje modo.

Mandala I, Detail

Patient 1,000,000.

24" x 6" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

Reflecting the most blatant marketing and promotion techniques of many multinationals, like those of the tourism or automobile industry, FarmNazi congratulates generic patient number 1,000,000 with great joy and fussing, and thanks him for his support. In contrast to this festive motif, below the “fortunate” generic patient others can be seen, with a small sign with their patient numbers, none of them lucky enough to have been patient number 1,000,000.

El paciente 1.000.000.

61 x 15,24 cm (Aprox).

Témpera y rotulador.

Reflejando las más burdas técnicas de marketing y promoción de muchas multinacionales, como pueden ser las del turismo, automovilística etc, FarmNazi felicita al paciente genérico 1.000.000 con gran regocijo y alharaca, y le agradece su apoyo prestado. En contraste con este motivo festivo, bajo el “afortunado” paciente genérico se ve otros, con un cartelito con el número de enfermo, que no tuvieron la suerte de ser el paciente 1.000.000.

Patient 1,000,000, Detail

Generic Patient.

24" x 17" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

Decorative work with a generic patient in the center, immersed in a huge tumor. A series of “arms” branch out from the tumor, like metastases, all of them full of generic patients that have different outcomes after or while they receive chemotherapy treatment: some cry, others get dizzy, others scream, others die, all of them suffer.

Paciente genérico.

61 x 43 cm (Aprox).

Témpera y rotulador.

Decorativa obra en la que se ve en su centro a un paciente genérico inmerso en un gran tumor del que se ramifican, como si de una metástasis de tratara, una serie de “brazos” repletos de pacientes genéricos que corren diversas suertes tras o durante la aplicación de la quimioterapia: unos lloran, otros se marean, otros gritan, otros mueren, todos sufren.

Generic Patient, Detail

Generic Patients.

6" x 24" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

Simple work in which several generic patients with different cancer conditions suffer the relentless pursuit of metastases, represented by crabs that seem to reproduce with greater virulence after the administration of FarmNazi drugs, which are supposed to bring about the disease’s remission. An infinite number of tumors surround the affected patients, making it impossible for them to escape from their ailment.

Pacientes genéricos.

15,24 x 61 cm (Aprox).

Témpera y rotulador.

Sencilla obra en la que varios pacientes genéricos con diferentes afecciones cancerígenas sufren el acoso de la metástasis, representada por cangrejos, que pareciera reproducirse con más virulencia con la administración del fármaco de FarmNazi que supuestamente tendría que hacer remitir la enfermedad. Infinidad de tumores rodean a los afectados haciéndoles imposible escapar a su dolencia.

Generic Patients, Detail

Wallpaper of the Generic Patient.

24" x 17" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

In a clear reference to the possibilities that the generic patient and other characters offer, I made this “wallpaper” as a pattern. In the future I plan on publishing wallpaper, wrapping paper, etc., and using my characters as decorative elements in a variety of mediums that provide greater diffusion of my ideas.

Papel de pared del paciente genérico.

61 x 17 cm (Aprox).

Témpera y rotulador.

Como clara referencia a las posibilidades que el paciente genérico y otros personajes ofrecen, hice este “papel de pared” a modo de patrón. Pretendo en un futuro editar papel de pared, de regalo, etc. y utilizar mis personajes como elementos decorativos en una variedad de soportes que den una mayor difusión a mis pretensiones.

Wallpaper of the Generic Patient, Detail

Horror Factory.

24" x 17" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

A tube drops happy and carefree animals into a tank, from which they fall into a machine that processes them. The machine spits out cosmetic products for the Cosmeticon company. The animals’ used and destroyed remains fall into another tank, where they are recycled to produce bottles of FarmNazi chemotherapy. From the other side of the tank come drops of a new perfume called “Blood.” Nothing is wasted of these poor beings who have not committed any crime except that of not having a “soul.” They can thus be used for all kinds of experiments and tests and put through the most heartless tortures so that consumers can put on make up, try to cure themselves of diseases, or smell better. Their pain and suffering do not matter if we are more beautiful or if the pharmaceutical companies can keep on making a fortune by offering their loathsome and worthless products that bring them juicy profits. The warm colors at the top of the work contrast with the colder colors at the bottom.

Horror Factory, Detail

Virus.

24" x 17" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

To the right of the work brews a series of evils-miasmas-horrors-disasters etc., which create a horrible virus that will sweep humanity away. This spreads to the left of the work where it branches out, embracing everything, and leaves behind a wake of pain, suffering and destruction without remission.

Virus, Detail

Allergy.

24" x 17" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

Decorative fields of striking colors in which a large group of generic patients is seen suffering an allergic reaction brought on by the chemotherapy. This is one of the terrible secondary effects of these supposed medications. There are patients that cannot tolerate the toxicity of the substances, and they suffer terrible allergic reactions, which can be fatal, even for those who have received antihistamines that, in many cases, do no good at all. I have represented the generic patients with a reddish color to reflect the rashes caused by the allergic reaction. The IVs contain a brown substance and they are surrounded by flies.

Allergy, Detail

Crushitfixion.

24" x 17" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

The title of the work plays with two English words: it is crucifixion with the word sh*t inserted in the middle to create crushitfixion. In the image, we see a generic patient crucified with two chemotherapy IVs that contain a brown substance and are surrounded by flies. The miserable gp asks himself: “FarmNazi, what the f*ck are you doing to us?” The slogan, to the right of the work, reads: FarmNazi, where cancer is money (for the company’s executives and shareholders, it is understood). In the center of the image are two babies who observe with horror the world that awaits them, and they ask themselves if they will end up the same.

Crushitfixion, Detail

Clinical Test.

24" x 17" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

Representation of a FarmNazi clinical trial in which the company tests a new substance. In the image one can see the happy control group receiving the placebo and the people who, like guinea pigs, receive the new drug that has terrible effects on them.

Clinical Test, Detail

Life Sentence.

24" x 17" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

Several quadriplegics fill this work. I represent them with screws in their hands and feet, and with jail bars covering their bodies, surrounded by structures that isolate them completely. These poor people will be like this for their whole life, a life (breathing and nothing else for many of them) that can last 30 or 40 years, if not more; people that ask for a solution to end their condition, something that they themselves cannot carry out because of their disability, and that the courts and legislators deny them. People that spend their days looking at the ceiling of a room, alone, with pain, itches, heat or cold, anguish, desperation and boredom, waiting for the day to arrive that will end it all. This work is inspired in the recent case of the quadriplegic portrayed in the movie “The Sea Inside,” who spent thirty years in bed; thirty years! Laid up in bed, waiting for death as the only solution to his miserable life. Hours and hours each day to think, feel, cry, suffer, get frustrated, angry, and scream in helplessness and pain. Unable to control his own body and depending on others to continue his appearance of a supposedly dignified existence. The jail bars that cover the bodies need no explanation: life sentence.

For those who are against euthanasia I have created the ‘Euthanasia Test’: I am not asking anybody to undergo the test that Ramón Sanpedro did for thirty years in his bed; I am not asking for ten years, or one, or even a half a year. One week is enough: one week in the summer, a week of hot and beautiful days, those that make you want to drop everything and go out for a walk, see your friends or go for a ride in the car or run along the beach. The test is simple. Simply get into bed, tie your feet with duct tape and ask a friend to tie your hands; hook up a catheter and see how long you last. If after a week (and with the knowledge that it is only a week) of needing the help of another person twenty-four hours a day in order to carry out the most primary functions, of spending unending hours in a warm room, without being able to move an inch, sweating out the summer heat and suffering pain and itches; if your ideas about euthanasia do not change I will think you have a truly serious clinical case of complete lack of empathy. After taking this test (nobody really will), I doubt that anyone will continue thinking that “God gives life and God takes life away.” Apparently, for those who defend life no matter the cost, it is clear that for them life is simply breathing; you can be blind, deaf, mute, paraplegic, suffering unspeakable pain and unimaginable agony, and they will think that you are blessed to be alive, that life is a divine gift without considering that condition in which “you live,” that you should not complain when what you are upholding is nothing more and nothing less that the will of the God in which they believe, and you must be thankful because you are one of the chosen. May they never have to see themselves in the situation Ramón Sanpedro was in!

Life Sentence, Detail

No Solution.

24" x 17" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

Series of couples in a continuous fight. Each one’s color is totally different, as is their way of thinking. They are also pictured in spaces of different colors that contrast with those of their adversary, and one can see the scars of the beatings their bodies have endured. These are lives that end in fights that don’t bring about any good; lives that end in death, which makes all equal. They could have looked for an agreement, an understanding, but their limitations, hate, grudges and hostility towards those who think different brought them to look for continuous confrontation, all to no avail.

No Solution, Detail

Tsunami for All.

24" x 17" (Approx.).

Tempera and marker.

Twelve scenes inside a wave. This work represents the tsunami that does not get covered by the press because of its routine nature. It is not a news item because it does not affect thousands of people at the same time but, often, it is a chronic tsunami that makes the lives of those who suffer a living hell. The victims of their own tsunamis would like to be in other situations that they dream about, knowing that the possibility of ending their torture is miniscule. The press should focus more on these daily tragedies in addition to dedicating pages and pages of newspapers and hours of radio and television air time to the most striking disasters because they affect thousands of people at once, thus having a bigger impact on the media. Those who suffer from the daily torture are forgotten by the media, which does not usually dedicate a line or even a minute of their time to these misfortunes that affect many more human beings that those that were killed or left homeless by the tsunami in the Pacific.

Tsunami for All, Detail

Last Chance.

39" x 35" (Approx.).

Mixed Technique on Canvas.

Several generic patients pray for their salvation as it is the only chance they have. They have cachexia, the illness is well advanced, they are emaciated y we can see how chemotherapy, a concoction surrounded by flies, has been useless. Not being able in trusting science, they just have their faith. They are seen isolated because of their illness having chemo bottles around them, already empty, just to show the lack of utility of the treatment that have plagued them with horrible suffering. Lots of pirate crabs, that symbolizes cancer, with a patch covering one eye, take over the background, discarding any success to their probable fatal death. One again, they have won the battle.

Last Chance, Detail

The End Is Nigh.

39" x 35" (Approx.).

Mixed Technique on Canvas.

The rain of evil, red in color, falls on a fertile field, green. All those touched by the rain adopt their color: they are the bad guys; all those who suffer have flesh color. The main character is the generic patient, sitting in a bull ring, who is surrounded by the sad family members who see how time passes inexorably and that death is a matter of time. They rotate counterclockwise, wanting to express that it is a race against time. Babies in diapers cover their eyes in the face of so much horror, which can be seen, in addition, throughout the work; babies with horrible carcinogenic mutilations, receiving chemotherapy, stoning, children forced to go through minefields, girls tied to chairs, vivisections, conjoined twins, abuse of children, animals, torture. In the upper central part of the play, a couple of parents see with horror the world that awaits their son and wonder who they are to expose the fruit of their entrails to such horror, and if that horror, in any of its manifestations (see the monsters that surround them), will suffer their offspring (Why not him?). At the bottom of the play are scenes of Joseph Kony and his LRA, Lord's Resistance Army. Kony is a fundamentalist Christian, or so he says, backed by Sudan, who wants to subject Uganda to the law of the 10 commandments. Meanwhile, it razes everything in its path, kills, tortures, rapes, mutilates, enslaves etc. JK and his henchmen are seen killing a man with machetes, in the next scene they are seen cutting the lips of the murdered man's wife with a razor blade; the third scene is the sale of the children, as slaves, of the marriage to a Sudanese Muslim (this story is real; there are thousands). The scenes are surrounded by mutilated arms from the aberrations of this madman and his savages. Below all, you see a row of child slaves.