Rewriting Vitruvius

By Rolo B. Cena

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Dumagutete Star Informer

August 7, 2016

When the Vitruvian Man was drawn, great Italian painter Leonardo da Vinci never had met nor talked to the famous Architect Vitruvius for the project. Da Vinci simply based his drawings on the notes of the Architect.  The drawing, which later was hailed to be a classic masterpiece, depicts a man in two superimposed positions with his arms and legs apart and inscribed in a circle and square.  Sketched in a piece of paper, the drawing actually purports to display the proportions of man.

33-year old Australian Nicholas James “Nick” Vujicic, was born with phocomelia, a rare disease characterized by the absence of limbs.  His is mainly torso with a small foot on his left hip that he uses not only for daily tasks but also for occasional round of golf, football and skateboarding.  When he was a young boy as Nick revealed, he was bullied from age 6 to 12 that at the age of 13 he suffered depression.  Today, Nick is considered as one of the most sought-after motivational speakers conveying his modern-day moving masterpieces before a multitude of people, young and old, able or disabled.

Michael “Mike” Siaron was a 29-year old tricycle driver and was a suspected peddler.  He was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in July 6, 2016 along the streets of Taft & EDSA.  His cadaver, which was left in the street covered with a provocatively inscribed cardboard only President Duterte can rationalize through his “kill list,” was cuddled by his live-in partner Jennilyn, that only Michelangelo can understand and sculpt.  Thereafter, Mike gained international media mileage for being the first grassroots killed out of the kill list whose story was sensationalized by international media and social networking sites.  Jennilyn on the other hand made her social networking debut when the cuddling of the invisible man now made visible captured the lenses of photojournalists who splattered the story in best celestial canvass.

The classic Vitruvian Man, or better known as the “proportions of man,” which is the very essence of the master-piece drawing of Leonardo da Vinci, parleys not only how the Supreme Being created physical human bodies using the science of proportions; it also implies the social and economic proportions of man in relation to its habitat.

Nick is limbless but active.  Surely, kids of today’s genre would always exchange a tête-à-tête with colleagues to chatter about his peculiar exposition.  Notwithstanding its bizarre portrait appears the most desirable proportion of talent to deliver inspiring messages, the exceptional wit to create twists and turns to inspire and the stupendous confidence to face a crowd and merely open his mouth to motivate.  Along with that grotesque body is the blissful provision of a wife who is superlatively understanding and loving.

Mike is able but sickly.  Arguably, his minute structure invites predators to bully the prey that he was.  Physically complete and sane, he was peddling for a living – that is, using the locally made “trisikad” ferrying passengers from corner to corner in the metropolis for a meager ten peso-ride.  Despite the odd proposition, he managed to rent a shack with his partner, a tiny storeroom along a garbage-strewn creek rented for P500 per month.  Notwithstanding the incongruence comes another heavenly endowment of a woman as understanding and loving as she could be until that fateful day.

There are always proportions in asymmetry that only the likes of Vitruvius, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Nick and Mike understand and believe; proportions that speak about rejuvenating art, reassuring wisdom, and unifying order:  For one, art is seeing the invisible, the invisible that is articulated in abstracts, weirdest of melody, harshest of verses and offensive of dialogues that only those with the vision can see, feel and understand.  Two, the intellect, no matter how rich it can be, is always as reassuring as knowing that the sun rises after each night falls.  Three, all instructions are always geared towards simplifying and putting things in proper perspective.

And Vitruvius, through the creative imagination of Da Vinci captured the proportions and symmetries of humankind despite the obvious of all odds and oddities.   Beyond the bestowed physical proportions of man is the incongruent of intellect, the bizarre of emotions, and the shortsighted of vision:  Incongruence because man, being the supreme of all creation endowed with superego still continues to indulge; bizarre because he continues to introduce the most uncanny of human activities that destroys; and shortsighted because he ignores evil doings and forgoes the vision of a perfect and rationalized being.

There is harmony in asymmetry that only a visionary can see.  Sadly though, these creatures are becoming extinct.  If only Vitruvius detailed alternative notes, perhaps Da Vinci could have sketched a different proportions of man where there are no poorest of poor and weakest of preys.

Imagine!