¡Que Viva Frida!

A Homage to Frida Kahlo
By Silvia Graciela Arroyo Ruiz Diaz 

Art opening
¡Que Viva Frida!
A Homage to Frida Kahlo
Fri, Sept 14, 7pm
Corazón Gitano
Hernández Macías 96

The hundred-year anniversary of Frida Kahlo’s birth is an opportunity to commemorate a Mexican artist who reached international fame, and also a chance to explore her work. The artist, the thinker, the griever, the fighter, the dream-maker—(M)the woman who lived is the one we remember, we celebrate and we carry in our hearts.

The fascinating and heart-wrenching life of Frida is apparent in her painting and writing. Through what it has been called the aesthetic of pain, Frida was able to overcome suffering, to transform pain into beauty and art. Frida painted herself, photographed herself, dressed herself and expressed herself as a human being who loved life, in spite of the pain that always accompanied her.

She painted nearly 200 pictures during her lifetime, mostly self-portraits, emphasizing the central theme of Frida Kahlo’s work—(M)herself. The paintings reveal many of her qualities as an artist and as a person—(M)the bravery and joie de vivre faced with the physical pain, the humor that protects her intimacy and dignity, and the passion she felt for Mexican folklore.

Frida was also a collector, not just a “chacharera,” but a great collector. One can see the fondness in her own person, mixing the Western fashion with exquisite dresses from Oaxaca, elaborate large skirts or “bolitas” shawls, seasoned with silver jewelry, perfectly matched with necklaces made of pre-Hispanic jade and turquoise, that she wore with the majesty and the dignity of a queen.

Also in her bed, the floral embroideries came alive; the ex-votos collection covered the Blue House stairs; her dolls and her toys decorated the bedroom. Beyond that, she also collected items such as the personal experiences, the faces around her, moods, dreams and even her nightmares. All these things lived in her creativity, filling her work, her house and world.

In honor of this extraordinary woman and artist, we offer you an art exhibition dedicated to her and all the objects she liked.

Jewelry designer Graciela Arroyo’s homage to Frida can be seen in the dramatic red-coral, pre-Hispanic jade, and several stone necklaces. She also completed silver and gold rings with fine stones, combining Mexican popular art with modern design. 

Graciela was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she started her education in fine arts, specializing in lapidary and jewelry design. She is a fan of the ethnic look.

Angeles Agreda, manager of Mujeres Trabajando Juntas (Women Working Together) from the surrounding communities, will show a different version of the ex-votos that Frida liked so much, on beautiful embroideries, tapestry and cushions.

Typical blouses and long skirts from Oaxaca will feature embroidery on silk and velvet.

Jade Muriel, the youngest member of the group, offers a small collection of niches (decorated boxes). Niches are dedicated to Frida Kahlo, exploring Frida’s dreams and memories, her romanticism and her child’s heart.

Finally, the special invited artist and woman poet Analaura Aguilar Durán, who sang as Lautzin (Nahualt version of Laura), will be showing her work for the first time in San Miguel—(M)“Frida: an Oil-Color Heart.” She was born in Mexico City and studied at the Center of Humanities and Arts and other art academies. She also specialized in symbology at the National Museum of Anthropology and History. She is the author of the book The Educative Function of Mite; Mitological Function of the Five Elements. All these experiences nourish her to create her own plastic vision.

The opening of this exhibition will be Friday, September 14, at 7:00pm at “Corazón Gitano” Hernandez Macías 96.

Let’s celebrate the living memory of Frida. ¡Que Viva Frida!

THE 52nd BIENNALE DI VENEZIA

Think with the senses—feel with the mind. Art in the present tense
By Margaret Failoni

Editor’s Note: This article was excerpted from a longer report by Margaret Failoni on her trip to the Biennale. Though a summary, it “was made possible thanks to the press releases and catalogues supplied by the Venice Biennale and the individual pavilions.” 

The Biennale di Venezia, founded 110 years ago, has always showcased cutting edge trends, schools and movements which constitute a center of artistic research on the contemporary. Robert Storr is the first American director in the long history of the Biennale. Think with the senses feel with the mind: Art in the present tense is the result of his look beyond the new frontier of world art, exploring rapidly developing artistic language, but also personalities, countries and trends emerging on all continents.

Storr gave Turkey and Mexico their own pavilions for the first time and added an exhibition of Contemporary African Art. In this spirit, he awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award to the artist Malick Sidebe, originally from Mali, expressing the global nature of the Biennale. 

Critics agreed that one of the most interesting presentations of this year’s Biennale was ensconced in the fifteenth-century Palazzo Van Axel, turned over to the Mexican government to be used for the first time ever as their official pavilion.

Rising to the occasion, the Mexicans presented six superb installation works by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer entitled Some Things Happen More Often than All of the Time. Of the six works, one was created specifically for the pavilion. 

The title of the exhibition refers to the paradoxical phenomenon found in certain scientific fields, such as quantum physics, where prediction and uncertainty models have proven the existence of behaviors that happen more often than one hundred percent of the time.

The artist works in electronic media to produce interactive installations combining languages of architecture and performance. His work is based on the appropriation and transformation of technologies such as robotics, surveillance and telematic networks to create platforms for audience participation and interactivity. His large-scale light and shadow installations are inspired by animatronics, carnivals and phantasmagorics, situating the spectator as a fundamental component to complete the work. 

For example, a large room with a painted white wooden floor is totally empty. As the spectator enters, the moving figures of smiling boys and girls appear to be lying on the floor, smiling up at the spectator, some waving their hands in greeting. 

In another room is a grid of white bar stools, six across and ten down. As the spectator enters the room, the stools start to rhythmically undulate as if dancing, in wave-like movements. My favorite is exhibited in a long, dark hall; row upon row of light bulbs hang evenly from the ceiling. The spectator is invited to grasp two connecting tubes located on a stand in the far end of the room, using both hands. After a minute, a light bulb connected above the tubes starts to light on and off, following your heartbeat. A minute after you let go of the tubes, all the bulbs in the room blink to the rhythm of your heartbeat.

In addition to the official Biennale events in the Giardini and the Arsenale, 34 collateral events are spread throughout the city. 

The Arsenale is generally dedicated to the experimental, mostly young artists from throughout the world. The largest space is the Corderia, a former storage area several hundred years old and almost a mile long. Each exhibiting artist chosen by an international panel of critics is allotted a space. 

Many exhibitions of photography and video were crowded into small, black closet-like spaces. Few people entered and those who did stayed no longer than a minute, escaping from the claustrophobic space. 

A huge space dedicated to contemporary African art was an unexpected, pleasant surprise. The large Check List–(N)Luanda Pop exhibition is a selection of works from the private collection of Angolan businessman Sindika Dokolo.

That such a superb collection could exist in Africa opens everyone’s eyes to that enigmatic continent.

Immediately after the Corderia’s wide, tunnel-like space is the new Italian Pavilion, which presents two artists, one well known and another belonging to the younger generation. Giuseppe Pennone is an outstanding member of the original Arte Povera group. The general reaction of the public toward his three large “Lymph Sculptures” was disappointed dismay. 

The work of the younger Francesco Vezzoli is quite sensational. DemocraZy is projected on three large screens in a semicircular room. The project is an analysis of contemporary communications systems, their manipulation by powerful forces and their effect on the collective imagination

At the very end of the Arsenale space is a large warehouse for discarded oil tanks which houses the People’s Republic of China exhibition space. Some very pretty decorative “somethings” are strung across the space just below the ceiling and small TV screens are placed between the old oil tanks. The immediate impression is that of seeing a great Kounellis installation, as the corroded oil tanks are visually powerful. Too bad, for it further diminishes any impact of the Chinese work.

The large Padiglione Italia (the ex-Italian pavilion located to the back of the Giardini) presents an extensive but rather disappointing collective exhibition. It is too crowded and bright, with too many works by each artist

The large, tree-filled Giardini (gardens) housed the original national pavilions; 57 in all including the reassigned Veneto pavilion. 

Canada presented a huge installation by their new young darling David Altmejd. Everyone (American and Canadian critics and dealers) is raving about this artist. The space is the height of kitch with walls lined with cut up pieces of mirrors, huge plastic monster-like figures, multicolored birds, etc. Feathers, bird’s nests with little colored eggs, rhinestones and seashells are all over the place.

Great Britain, on the other hand, had a wonderful pavilion exhibition with beautiful works by Tracey Emin. The artist presents a room lined with beautiful, small ink drawings of women: limbs, breasts, vaginas, all in a resting pose. The second room shows vary large canvases, with lovely nudes painted in long, free strokes. 


The Israeli artist Yehudit Sasportas presents a stunning installation (more decoration than art) of oriental gardens painted in silhouette on white frosted glass panels. Black bamboo poles are dispersed here and there, some criss-crossed across the floor, others leaned against a wall. The title of the installation is The Gardens of the Threshold and it was more like entering a Japanese pavilion.

By popular opinion, the Russians outdid everyone. The RES+F Group (Tatiana Arzamasova, Lev Euzovch, Eugeny Svyatsky and Vladimir Fridkens) created a stunning work. Three huge, joining screens form a half circle. A film entitled Click Hope shows a magnificently drawn and colored world of ice-capped mountains, snowy valleys and a few villages nestled within.

Some have onion-domed spirals, others, western style buildings. War rockets rise from nowhere, fighter planes zoom down into the valleys, prehistoric birds of prey glide high above. Suddenly, you zoom onto a high crest and see real people, a group of multiracial youths of both sexes, dressed sparingly in shorts, half sarongs, gym suits, etc. They are holding knives, swords, bow and arrows, machine guns, every type of weapon from the last 300 years. They are clearly trying to kill each other, but in ballet-like moves to Wagner’s Gotterdamerung. It is truly a modern apocalypse. In another part of the pavilion, the artists installed 
Homage to Nam June Paik—(M)a shower stall lined with images moving, from top to bottom, of various world locations. From a spigot above, the images fall down like water.

The United States pavilion is dedicated to the deceased Cuban, naturalized American artist, Felix González Torres. At the entrance hangs an installation of multiple, black electric wires with lit light bulbs of various lengths, some resting on the floor. A large installation in the center of a room consists of a “rug” made of thousands of pieces of licorice candy, meant to be taken by the viewer. In another are two large mounds of posters with a few words by the artist, also meant to be taken away by the onlookers. Another room houses a series of photo works. The total of the installations in this pavilion is entitled America, and like all González Torres’ work, draws a fine line between social commentary and personal disclosure.

Spain’s pavilion showed works by a group of artists, under one title: Paraíso Fragmentado (Broken Paradise). Several short color films are presented on different large screens. They each show two men sitting side by side against a bare white wall. They seem to be alternating total gibberish until you listen closely and realize they are pronouncing political slogans in a repetitive, ridiculous way. Another pokes fun using bull-ring chants, to make political or social satire. 

Venezuela’s pavilion is completely lined wall to wall with huge, stunningly beautiful color photographs by Antonio Briceño. The artist presents us with an anthropological study on the original Andean Indian tribes that constitute (sans Spaniards) the peoples of his country. The subjects are in original costumes with the tropical clouds and Andean mountains as backdrops.

Paradise Lost—(M)The First Roma Pavilion is the first contemporary show representing an international selection of Roma (Gypsies) artists from eight European countries (in Palazzo Pisani).

The Veneto pavilion paid homage to the recently deceased Venetian painter Emilio Vedova. The larger hall exhibited magnificent large white canvases with Vedova-like gestural brush strokes in grey, black and white by the artist’s lifelong friend, George Baselitz. The smaller room showed five short videos by artists who knew and or worked with Vedova, including Vito Acconci and Bruce Nauman.

Margaret Failoni is an independent curator and art historian who has lived in San Miguel for 13 years. She curates exhibitions of contemporary art for museums, public spaces and some galleries in Mexico after a full-time career in Rome, Italy.