
Photo: Elito Circa/Facebook
Every time he scraped his body, young Elito used the blood as paint, but as he grew older he realized that he needed as stable supply of “paint”, so she started visiting a clinic in Manila to have it extracted periodically. Nowadays, he stops by the clinic about once every three months to have his blood drawn, which he then stores in a freezer in his studio.
Although Amangpintor has been criticized for his use of blood as paint in the past, the Filipino artist has always made it clear that he wants to change people’s perception of blood through his art.
“People are afraid of blood. Because in their minds, blood means death,” Circa said in an interview. “But I want to twist… that belief. That’s why I’m addressing its use because I want people to think that it’s not death, but love and life.”
It’s unclear how much of his own blood Elito Circa has stored in his art studio, but it must be a lot, because he has announced plans to create the largest “blood painting” ever on a 100-meter (328 ft) canvas next year, thus setting a new world record.
As bizarre as using blood as an art medium sounds, Elito Circa isn’t the first artist to do it. In the past, we’ve actually featured artists like Vincent Castiglia and Dr Rev Mayers, who did the same thing.