Monday, March 14, 2011

You Fill in the Blanks

"If I see one more image/picture/painting/of ________________  I'm going to, a) throw up b) jump c) scream"
A woman who carries my art in town told me she wants to, a) throw up, regarding Frida Kahlo. (Note to self: no Frida there!) I disagree with her 100% about Frida, but can think of a few I'd probably pick c) scream & I honor her frankness & spunk. She sells my art pieces like a house on fire & only takes 20%, so I'm not going to ask her to stare at Frida all day. I kind of got that way about Georgia O'Keefe, God forbid! An old boyfriend bought me a stunning framed print of hers & I faithfully put it on a wall in every house until I got to this house. Although it's in the back of a closet somewhere, it's not that I don't still admire HER spunk, individuality & cranky attitude, it's just not 'it' for me right now. The huge entirely black painting in the black frame called BLACK in a prominent place in any museum? a, b, & c!! I don't care WHO you are.

Frida, on the other hand, illicits MUCH stronger reactions from me & others I know, from hero worship, to horror, to pity, to anger, to shame, to right on!, to awe, to disgust, to tears....... &  I'd bet that's why she's seared into our minds. Who else had, (has), the guts to paint her own image over & over, spread her legs on the bloody table to show us the horror of her miscarriage & to live with crippling pain while still creating miraculous art? To openly acknowledge her beauty, dress in suits & hang a mirror over her bed to paint instead of, b) Jumping? Cindy Sherman comes to mind & ....... &....... ? Exactly.


1 comment:

  1. I am tired of seeing images of Day of the Dead Mary and Zombie Mary. These to me are disrespectful. I have nothing against Day of the Dead, in fact, I really love all the art and happy sugar skulls. I am just not into disrepecting Mary. She is not a skeletal Virgin. She is not and never has been a zombie. So there, that is my 'if I see one more image of this I will start writing notes to these people'.

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