“Frida Kahlo,” curated by Hayden Herrera and Elizabeth Carpenter. Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN. Through Jan. 20. Scheduled tour: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, February 20 – May 18; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA, June 14 – September 28, 2008.
46 paintings and over 80 photographs from Kahlo’s photo albums are included in this retrospective, organized jointly by the Walker Art Center and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Amy Carlson Gustafson reports in the Pioneer Press how the curators came up with the idea. “The idea was to find an artist whose works are well known, highly valued and admired by the public but aren’t seen very often. ‘I feel like a lot of people are familiar with Kahlo and her self-portraits through reproductions, but probably haven’t ever seen one,’ said Walker associate curator Elizabeth Carpenter. ‘It’s a collection of emotionally driven paintings that are as haunting as they are beautiful. Her provocative self-portraits serve as a visual response to what was happening in her life – be it political, social or internal. One of her strengths is that she made art personal. You know that saying the personal becomes political? It is really true with her. ‘” Read more.
Guadalupe Marin Rivera, Diego Rivera’s daughter, is less than loving toward Frida. AFP reports that she recently told a Costa Rican newspaper that Frida was a lousy artist. “She was a perfectionist. When she was working on a painting, it would take her a long time and my father would help her so that she would finish them and sell them,” she said. “I lived through this, that’s why I say it….It has been said that my father made Frida suffer and I can tell you that … Frida made my father suffer. Society today, in my opinion, is completely decadent and needs a decadent icon. Frida is the symbol of this decadence,”
Mary Abbe in Minneapolis’ Star Tribune recommends a visit to “Graphic Reality: Mexican Printmaking Today,” a show of contemporary Mexican printmaking curated by Artemio Rodr�guez, of La Mano Press originally for International Print Center New York. Artists include Marcelo Balzaretti, Mizrain Cardenas, Oscar Camilo de las Flores, Demian Flores, Ver�nica G�mez, Rogelio Gutierrez, Dar�o Ramirez, Joel Rend�n, Artemio Rodr�guez, Jose Hugo Sanchez, and Cesar Alberto Chavez Victoria. The show runs through Nov. 28.
