By snoadmin
The life and artwork of Frida Kahlo was on display at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center on Thursday, April 10 via a multimedia presentation on the days and years of the Mexican artist who went on to become a cultural icon.
Christened simply as the “Frida Kahlo Lecture,” the presentation chronicled the life of Kahlo from her youth in Mexico City to the blossoming of her artistry. The multimedia presentation made use of photo iconography of Kahlo’s paintings, black and white pictures and even film footage of her to provide an array of spectral lenses and mediums to explore the life of the renowned artist.
A ballet number precluded the presentation with a performance by Vera Islas and Andres Arambula, two dancers from Taller Coreografico of Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM), Latin America’s largest university. The dancers performed a classic ballet number called “Zapata,” which was stylistically beautiful in a flurry of motions and movements by the dancers coupled with a melancholic music to accompany it.
Led by Gregorio Luke, former director of the Museum of Latin American Art, the lecture was a juxtaposition of Kahlo’s art fully expressed to provide a life fully revealed.
Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderon was born in 1907 in Coyoacan, the outskirts of Mexico City. In 1925, Kahlo was riding a bus when it collided with a trolley car and an iron handrail pierced her abdomen and uterus, which damaged her reproductive ability. Bed rest caused by the injuries yielded Kahlo to take up painting. She developed a raw and original style and her self-portraits during her early periods of painting became a vital part of her artistic expression.
As the slideshow progressed, Kahlo’s paintings seemed to take a life-like quality, each one telling a story relating to her life. The photo iconography of Kahlo’s artwork was vivid and colorful capturing Kahlo’s artistic style resembling a gigantic oil-on-canvas plastered on the stage projector. The still, black and white photography gave a realist perspective on Kahlo and allowed the viewer to see her detached from her paintings. The film footage was perhaps the most enticing. Much of the footage was not widely known. The high resolution film footage gave the audience an almost tangible experience on an artist known for her still art and self portraits. To see Kahlo moving, walking, laughing, talking and just simply living was a beautiful and stimulating sight.
The audience was receptive to the presentation which because of its subject and the abundance of paintings also became an artwork in of itself. The photos and art iconography was impeccable and stunningly beautiful.
The lecture also emphasized Kahlo’s penchant for fashion. Buried within the myriad of pictures and paintings, a picture of Kahlo as she graced the cover of Vogue Magazine pointing to her contributions not only to art but also fashion and even popular culture.
Luke said that Kahlo’s face is recognized the world over and in her face people see a part of themselves. Recognized as one of the most picturesque faces in the artistic realm, Kahlo epitomized that artistic integrity had a knack for captivating people.The lecture remained true to Kahlo. Expanding not only on her artistic, public life, but also on her personal matters, including her pained illness, her bi-sexuality, her tumultuous marriage, political activism and extramarital affairs. Luke closed the presentation with the only film footage of Kahlo available in color.
Taken as a whole, the presentation was anything but a lecture and personified the integrity of an artist such as Kahlo.
