week 5: Cindy Sherman and Frida Kahlo

 

"Aftermath", inspired by Cindy Sherman's Untitled Film Still #30

Untitled Film Still #30, Cindy Sherman (1977)

Frida Kahlo Was a Painter, a Brand Builder, a Survivor. And So Much More | NY Times

“Kahlo suffered extensively for much of her life, and the most moving section

of the show is devoted to her ecosystem of medical devices. But Kahlo did not

conceal her pain, revealing her casts and leather braces with metal buckles in

her work and turning her plaster corsets into art with elaborate designs of

flowers, even a hammer and sickle.”

I admire how Kahlo Utilized her experiences and especially her casts, and transform them into something unique. I feel like most people would try to forget the things that caused the pain

whether it's physical or mental but it takes an act of real courage to utilize that aspect of her life into something beautiful.

“Neither her disabilities from polio and a bus accident, nor her frequent relapses

of pain deterred Kahlo. By the time she died at the age of 47 in 1954, she left

behind a public persona that is still being mined well into the 21st century-”

I always found it amusing that in a world in which men or male artists have dominated throughout history and with Kahlo being married to an artist, You would assume or have the presumption that her husband would be married to an artist, You would assume or have the presumption that her husband would be far more recognized in history than Kahlo, this really places into perspective on how powerful her work is and how it's still recognized in the present day.

Read through the web entry for Hannah Hoch created by Smart History:

"We [the Dadaists] regarded ourselves as engineers, we maintained that

we were building things, we said we put our works together like fitters.”

The manner in which the Dadaists do their work or how they express themselves through their

work. I admire the sense of building something from the ground up even with the societal

pressure around the "new' artists at the time.

“Women, then, take on an active role in this new Dada world, moving

and expressing themselves freely, working to bring on the Dada revolution.”

With the element of Dadism, I admire the sense of this new profound sense of

"having no meaning". This gave a great foundation to new artists especially women in this new genre of art.