Morgan Wallace Professor Schaefer 26 October 2014 Frida Kahlo is best known as a “Mexican self portrait artist” (“Frida Kahlo” 1 ) who painted deeply personal paintings. Her biography explained how she loved traditional and colorful clothing and jewelry (“Frida Kahlo”1). Most of her work contains images of colorful Mexican flowers surrounding her bold face in which she rarely smiled. Frida had a thick uni-‐brow and she always painted in all her self-‐portraits. Her other work consists of nature, fruit, or bizarre and sometimes disturbing images. Her work is usually colorful but somewhat depressing, and has deeper meanings beyond the initial image the viewer sees. Each painting tells an important story in her life, many of which were troubled times. Such images take time to examine and understand. Frida was born in July of 1907 in Coyocoan, Mexico City. When she was six years old she developed Polio, and at age eighteen she was in a bus crash which fractured her spine and pelvis. Both of these events caused her a lifetime of pain. Once married she had a love hate relationship with her Husband Diego Rivera (also an artist). They broke their marriage off several times and each had lovers on the side. During these years Frida had experienced multiple miscarriages, and she
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painted the grueling experiences she went through. She also painted images of suicide, exposed hearts, blood, nails in her naked body, skeletons, body braces and other physical challenges she had faced. To add to the list of her struggles, Frida had gangrene in her foot, which later had to be amputated. She also had cases of pneumonia, and was often depressed. In the book The Humanistic Tradition the author Gloria writes, “ Her paintings bring to life the experience of chronic pain, both physical (her accident required some thirty surgeries and ultimately involved the amputation of her right leg) and psychic (repeated miscarriages, for example, left her incapable of bearing a child) (Fiero 46). Unlike many artists, she painted her reality, not her dreams. Although some of her images seem daunting, she is one of the most celebrated surrealists of her time. Her paintings were displayed in the Louvre in Paris while she was still alive. She was very sick at the time, but was able to attend her artwork showings from a hospital bed she was wheeled in on. Frida died at age 47 in July of 1954, the cause was unknown. Her work is greatly recognizable today, and she was a huge part of the surrealist movement, even though she did not like this label on her work. The reason I chose Frida Kahlo for my project is for her bold images that stick in ones mind. I learned about her once in an Art History course and wanted to know more. I like that she is not afraid to use color, even in a depressing image. It makes her work more peculiar and intriguing. Additionally, I like the elements of depth and story telling in her work. Her strength is highlighted in the hardships she shared in her paintings. I personally am not a fan of her work, as I would not hang it
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on my wall, but I appreciate her detail and emotions, as well as her range from colorful flowers to haunting images. They provided me with a good source of inspiration for this particular project.
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Retailers
The two different retailers I am designing my bust forms for are Levi Strauss
& Co and Alexander McQueen. They are both vastly different brands that appeal to very different types of customers. Levi’s appeals to the everyday American consumer, looking for a basic pair of jeans, button up shirt, or denim jacket. They are known for their low priced, quality denim for men women and children. McQueen on the other hand appeals to a totally different audience. His work is for the eccentric soul. He created designer and high fashion garments often worn by celebrities. His work is known to push the limits and feature highly decorated, out-‐ of-‐the-‐box, futuristic pieces of art.
I choose Levi’s to feature my bust form inspired by Frida Kahlo because I related her casual upbringing and lifestyle in Mexico to the idea of a low key life out west in the deserts of the U.S. Her colorful flower paintings reminded me of cactus flowers, and made me think of simplicity, which is why I chose Levi’s. They are a simple brand known across country for their great basic denim. By creating a “western” type of bust form for Levi’s, I felt it would fit their brand image well, and could easily be relatable.
Wallace 5 I choose Alexander McQueen to feature my second bust form inspired by
Frida Kahlo due to both of their dark and expressive minds. Alexander McQueen was known for his work to make bold statements. He was not afraid to put cages on his models faces, or create huge garments, and paint his models faces black with lipstick. Each and every runway show has the audience in awe and amazement over his chilling creations. I figured he and his brand would be the perfect audience to appreciate the graphic and depressing images from Frida Kahlo.
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The bust form I created for Levi’s was inspired by Frida’s flower headdresses
and paintings with natural elements. For the neck block I designed a colorful collage of flowers that will be made out of silk or paper and wire so they can be flexible. For the body I was inspired by Frida’s large green leaves she painted in several of her paintings. I wanted to keep the body simple, so any of Levi’s denim or button ups will fit and not be distracted from. The leaves on the body can either be painted on the muslin, or could be handmade out of silk to add texture to the form. Lastly I created the base out of wood scraps. The wood symbolizes the simple, rustic, western feel I talked about earlier. Scrap Wood for base <
Flowers for Neck Block ^
Leaves for body ^
Inspiration from Frida Kahlo
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Wallace 9 The bust form I created for Alexander McQueen is much different from the
one for Levi’s. The neck block is a piece that connects the “veins” coming out of the head of the body. It is created out of an extension the “spinal cord” which is made out of steel. There are two medical syringes on either side of the “spinal cord” that lock the neck block into the body base. The body in an irregular shaped form, with high shoulders and a super skinny waist. I created this to express the uniqueness in McQueen’s work. Nothing he made was ordinary, and it was always something visually exciting, so I wanted to do the same to my form. The spinal column made of steel that runs through the entire form and holds it together and is inspired by Frida’s self-‐portrait Broken Column. This image represents the pain and suffering she endured after her sickness and bus accident. The body is made of wire, which to me gives the form an “edgier” and more “disturbing” look, this is inspired by McQueen’s cage-‐like headpieces. Inside the wire body, is a bright red human heart made of paper mache and paint that connects to the neck block by a series of red “veins” that will be made out of electrical cord. The heart was inspired by the exposed hearts in several of Frida’s paintings. Lastly, the base is made out of steel and welded nails. The nails also come from the Broken Column painting and expose viewers to raw pain. Below are images of inspiration for this form, as well as a few of the materials I would use:
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"Frida Kahlo." Biography . Ed. Laura Grimm, Leanne French, and Eudie Pak. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2014. <http://www.biography.com/people/frida-kahlo-9359496>. Fiero, Gloria K. The Humanistic Tradition. 6th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006. 1180. Print.