Frida Kahlo Exhibition

So I went to Philadelphia on Sunday to check out the last day of the Frida Kahlo Exhibit. I had been trying to get down to this exhibit since I had found out about it on the plane ride back from Panama. Due to the weekends being packed with different events happening, such as Mother's Day and my exhibition, I just haven't been able to make it down there until last minute, where I was stomping my feet if I wasn't going to be able to go.

I had spoke with my neighbors who were able to go to the show an earlier weekend and they had told me that it was insanely packed. They didn't exaggerate. It was mobbed. Which is great to see that Frida was getting that exposure, but DAMN! I had to buy tickets for a specific time slot. When we got there, we had to que up with everyone. Of course we were stuck right near the crazy woman. VERY crazy. I was talking to my friend about our insane hairdresser and the stories from my haircut the day before. Then the crazy lady butts her nose in and says- Where is this! I want to go! Needless to say, she is a bit wacky and kept talking to us through out the exhibition.

You enter the exhibition to a Fridha with Monkey painting. The next couple rooms are photos from Frida's personal collection. This room we got accosted by the crazy lady again. Then the rest of the rooms had more paintings. By then the crazy lady had no shoes and was yelling that she wanted everyone to leave so she could sit in front of the painting and stare for hours. yep, leave it to me to find the nut jobs.

I enjoyed the exhibition, but wanted more paintings. I wanted the rooms to be less crowded. i wanted to be like the crazy person and stare at the work without someone breathing over my shoulder. Part of the problem, if you ask me is those damn audio tour things. They make people cluster around a piece for an extended period, which bottlenecks the crowd. I did like how they showed other examples of Mexican art to inform the visitor of the reasons why she painted certain paintings a specific way, but I also felt like it was a bit of filler... like that could have been used for more work. And then you are filtered to the giant gift shop at the end that was selling everything from clay pots, to Mexican style clothes, to books and posters, to jewelry. It was a bit insane.

After checking out the exhibit, we walked around the museum and saw some great contemporary stuff, which I will cover in the next post. All in all, i thought the exhibition was good and was pleased that I could FINALLY see it.

Artist Sharing

Through my searching for information about an artist I saw this weekend, I did a bit of research and came across a Paper Alchemy blog that introduced me to this artist. I was so impressed with the work that I wanted to give a nod to this artist as well. I think of him as a sculptor and wanted to share with you all some art that inspires me.

This Danish artist's name is Peter Callesen. What drew me to his work was his humor and technique. How he cuts out the paper and then creates these images to play off of the cut out. One piece has a cowboy with a lasso cut out and then hanging from the picture is the cowboy hung from his own lasso as the positive. It's his understanding and use of material and knowledge of the negative and positive spaces that works it's magic. It has a personality of it's own and even a life. These paper pieces breathe. They have movement and are alive. It's as though when you walked away, the paper came to life and we came back in the room in the middle and they got busted.


The technique is fantastic. So clean and clever. The pristine quality of the white paper and the sculptural feeling of the positive images. The little details that he incorporates into the work is amazing. I look at it and think, I would have SO nipped that little bit off. The small details of bricks and window panes, fantastic.

He does large scale work, which equally fascinates me. I encourage you all to check out his site. Use him as inspiration for your own work.

Show and Tell

So I am having fun sharing art. My friend sends me links to artists that she likes and thinks I will like. I have decided to share these with you all, since i may not have much to say or too busy to say something. This is a Korean artist, Yeondoo Jung, that uses Children's drawings and recreates them as they would be in a real life setting. They are rather surreal and playful. It's the juxtaposition of images and the plane and lack of dimension that makes these feel child like. I find some work better than others, but all in all, I love the looks of them. I also enjoy her Bewitched series too. Very nice..... there easily could be one for everyone.