The year was 1991 and I had recently moved to San Francisco from my small home-town of San Luis Obispo in central
California.
It was Dia de los Muertos and I was living in the middle of one of the nation's oldest Latino neighborhoods: the Mission District. You could still expect mariachi bands at various Mexican restaurants, and middle age men selling roses at your table to make extra money. The neighborhood has changed dramatically and what was the family barber shop has been replaced by boutiques and hipster bars. And what do some of those boutique stores sell? You guessed it. Frida Kahlo accessories. Earrings, key chains, t-shirts, bags, cookbooks, and tequila!
I was in on it with the rest of them. Full on Frida worship. A good friend of mine, who happens to be a fantastic artist, made sure I had the best make up job in town. Of course admired her!! She was a confident, passionate, beautiful, talented woman. Everything I wanted to be. I still admire Frida and think she remains one of the most important artists of our time, but I wonder what effect all the reproduction of her image, and all the commodification that has accompanied it had on the strength of her art? Because, that is why we admire Frida, right? Her ability to convey emotionally charged subjects such as fertility, womanhood, sex, marriage, and identity is admired by many other artists, male and female. Sometimes I think that gets lost when so many people insist on owning all accoutrements that accompany someone as famous as Frida.
Over the course of the next few months of the exhibit, this blog will have a dialogue about those subjects. We will be inviting local scholars, writers, and even a marketing/advertising person to write about Frida's effect as an artist, and the impact capitalism has on the strength of someone's artistic work.
Frida for Sale will consist of five posts beginning the first week of the Frida Kahlo show. We will be inviting guest writers from different perspectives, and professions to weigh in on the impact surrounding the commercialism of Frida Kahlo and her art. Guest bloggers will include, Lorena Duarte, journalist and spoken word artist, Julie Hellwich, founder of the Smart Women company, and Juanita Garciagodoy from the Twin Cities arts collective Grupo Soap del Corazon. Each writer will answer the question, "What was your first exposure to Frida Kahlo?"
Each of the blog posts in this series is open to comments from the public. However, it is not a forum. We want people’s comments on the show and the ideas it is raising. Our intention with the blog series is not to encourage the infantile conversations about Frida’s bedroom partners. However, that is a casualty of the mass marketing of her image, and would make for an interesting discussion.
You won't catch me going to the Frida Kahlo exhibit dressed as her (although, maybe that's a good idea!), but I probably will be wearing my Frida Kahlo earrings. Yes, even though I admire her art, I still have a desire to wear an image of her. Maybe that's my way of expressing solidarity with her. Viva Frida!
I really like Frida Kahlo, but i was trying to add comments to the hotart blogs, the comments are broken. Those works deserve better. wttmuseum
Comment by Astrid — 10/29/2007 @ 4:15 pm
The commodification of Frida… a fascinating subject. She inadvertently set the whole thing up by choosing her own image as a subject, but I have to imagine that her reaction to “Frida and Diego paper dolls” would not, on the whole, be a positive one.
Comment by Richard — 10/30/2007 @ 8:02 pm
Richard, you are right! Frida immortalized her own gorgeous, colorful self in her artwork. I think she would be utterly delighted to find herself as a paper doll, and the subject of attention so many years after her death. It validates her importance as an artist (overshadowed in life by Rivera and to a great degree by her disabilities), and it’s just plain fun!
Comment by Terre — 10/30/2007 @ 10:34 pm
The members of Northography are writing creative responses (mostly poetry) to Frida’s work for the next week and a half. Please take a look at what we’re doing at http://www.northography.com.
Comment by Britt Fleming — 11/7/2007 @ 6:00 pm
There are two aspects to the commercial aspects of Frida. The first is the businesses who make the profits off of her image. And yes, she did control that image. I find it fascinating that she was her own muse, that she gazed at her self (portraits, photos, and diary) as if she didn’t know who she was, as if looking for the truth under the facades, the woman besides being Diego’s wife, or as if she was trying to reconcile her broken body with her radiant spirit. But the other part– those who want to emulate her– we are showing admiration and awe, and we are practicing as well a kind of sympathetic magic. If we carry her image, maybe we will inherit some of her determination, inspiration and chutzpah, her creativity. The “word” from art dealers and curators is to consider her art on its own merits. But I can’t separate her art from her life: it is auto-biographical, just as my poetry is richer for knowing the story behind the poem. I try to make sense of myself and the world with words. She was in the same creative ferment and if she can rub off on me…all the better! Wearing a pin with her face on it gives me courage…I also think of the Mexican traidtion of milagros. Maybe these images of her should be worn and then left on her shrine, to thank her for her gifts.
Comment by Wendy Brown — 11/8/2007 @ 9:24 am
wendy,
the notion of artist as shaman, as medicine woman, is often considered outmoded, passe’, even gauche these daze. the gate keepers of contemporary arts culture forget that we have been evolving for thousands of years and for most of that time we have relied on certain people that explore the edges of our universe, the deeper places, and report back to us for the greater welfare of the tribe. one of the paths to shamanic awakening/initiatin in traditional, indigenous cultures was illness. i think frida went places inside (and outside) and returned to show us things, mysteries. the fact that her life was not always coherent or heroic or filled with light is of no matter to me. the fact that she might not have always been aware of her abilities as a channel for the depths is not my concern. the ones that sit in a hut at the edge of the village are usually very human, flawed as much or more than most. frida’s art can be viewed formally, as art and not much more. and yes, that can be wonderful. but i prefer that it also be seen also as a series of maps, of dreamtime walkabouts (rufino tamayo is the same way for me). not to be rationally dissected, but to be savored and contemplated. the doorway opens at night when we are half asleep and not engaged in the world. and especially, when the rational mind seeks it’s rest. the paintings can haunt you for days, months, years… and that is their glory.
Comment by douglas Padilla — 11/8/2007 @ 10:03 pm
Douglas, !Claro que si! !Exactemente! You said it so well…Frida was a shaman and led the way, especially for us women, to articulate that journey to the edge, to the core, through identity and dissolution in our bodies, hearts, minds and souls. The transformation of pain and terror into beauty is to me the essence of what purpose art serves.
Comment by Wendy Brown — 11/9/2007 @ 1:14 pm
No question that Frida is for SALE!
Limited edition T-shirt of “Nuestra Señora Virgen De La Frida” for only $20 call NOW at 612. 396 8212
Ajuaaaaa!!!
Comment by Luis Diego Rivera — 11/13/2007 @ 10:04 am
Fridha has become an icon of Mexican Pop Art in the world. The same as the Virgin of Guadalupe. So many creative interpretations of these images.
I am a “collector” per say of images and items of the Virgin of Guadalupe, both for religious beliefs and because I am inspired by the beauty of the image itself. I recently found this box that contains the story and guide for celebrating her Day on December 12th. Thought I would pass it along.
Comment by Monica — 11/13/2007 @ 3:55 pm
Her life inspired the name of my personal blog–”Fridaville: where my imagination rents a room” (http://fridaville.blogspot.com). Her work never grows stale for me, no matter how many matchboxes or plates bear her image.
Comment by Nikki Hardin — 11/26/2007 @ 12:17 pm
I have read several books about frida when i was a child and before she was “for sale” in the movie…I know her work since the age of 14; her art had always exerced a strong fascination on me…She explores the woman essence…I would love to go to “Casa Azul” in Mexico.
Comment by claire7 — 7/14/2008 @ 3:25 pm