You know who I am REALLY in love with right now??
Frida.......Frida Kahlo
I seem to be seeing her everywhere and here is a little peek at some of my most exciting finds:
For those that don't know Frida Kahlo was a famous Mexican painter that lived from 1907 to 1954.
In no way am I am claiming to be a Frida expert, but here are some things that I have discovered about this woman that makes her a top bad ass in my book.
**She spent most of her life bed ridden. At the age of 6 she contracted Polio and then later in her early 20's was in a terrible bus accident that left her body mangled even further. She suffered a broken pelvis, spinal column, collar bone and had a hand rail go through her back and out her uterus.......and she lived.......reason #1 why this woman is amazing.
** She took pain...physical, emotional and mental and turned it into art. All of her suffering, grief, bad choices and struggles were put onto her canvas. Say what you will about her style of art, her political views, her questionable morals and behaviors....the woman never apologized......instead she created........reason #2
** She used herself as her main subject. In fact, most of her works were self-portraits. She painted the ugly, the dark sides, the sides that we as humans try and hide. The sides we point out in others but refuse to acknowledge as owning ourselves. This kind of transparency and authenticity blows my mind! The amount of courage it takes to even go to those places is huge. Not only did she go there.....she illustrated what she found. Reason #3.
And finally~ ANY woman who can rock a unibrow and not give a shit.......well...my hat is off to you sister!!
Frida is credited with saying “I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best.” She had a mirror put over her bed so she could study herself for her work. She knew she was born to paint and she was willing to work with the most constant subject she had....herself.....scars and all...
Now, I don't know about you all but if I was bed ridden, I would NOT choose myself as my primary subject! I would go out of my way to find pretty much anything else to focus on....I would become a master at painting those bowls of fruit you see or something. I would crochet till my fingers fell off......I would spend countless hours finally teaching myself to whistle...hell.....anything but stare at my own self...my own soul...... all day..... every day and then translate it through paint!
So as I was thinking about that fact I asked myself....well.....why?? Is it because I would be scared that people would find it arrogant? Is it because I am scared of what I would see? Is it because I don't think that it would be worth painting? Is there not enough substance within a human being....themselves alone..... to produce a life's work of art?
And guess what answers I came up with to those questions??
Not a damn one!
HA!
There goes my idea on spending the rest of my life making a career out of self reflection, or being a sage or a yogi or writing some best seller about the monumental findings that one can encounter when spending huge amounts of time in solitude. Guess I will just keep making soap and stuff.
So what is the point of all this you ask?? Why should we love Frida? Why should we care about this tortured mess of a woman who painted things you would take down when your Grandma comes to visit....(don't worry....she's already seen them I assure you!)
We should care because she created in spite of what she would find when she started. Let that sink in for a second.
She didn't draw flowers or smiley faces on her famous broken column piece. She painted nails and tears. She didn't sugar coat shit to make it palatable or change it for the masses so it might sell better or be more appealing. She truly embodies the saying "It is what it is".........love it or hate......she painted her truth.
She was a realist. The universe knows that if anyone can appreciate one of those it is a crazy scattered brain creating maniac like me.
Instead of searching Pinterest all morning and then finding myself $200.00+ deep at the old craft warehouse shaking my head saying "Really???? AGAIN Danielle??.....why don't I pull a Frida.
Stay in my stretchy pants....ask myself some questions about what is inside and then just let whatever creation that happens happen....with the stuff I already have.......
Frida lived in the middle....and it shows in her work. She had momentous life events. Like all of us. But the meat and potatoes of her work....the amazing stuff happened in the middle.....on a regular day.....doing what she had to do...which in her case was usually be in bed.....stuck.....in the middle of life.
Frida Kahlo didn't apologize for feeling. She didn't say "Yeah.....I'm a hot mess.....sorry about that". Instead, she accepted it and ran with it.
Now....I'm not saying we should all go on some crazy artistic tangent..throw caution and values to the wind....hitch-hike or not brush our teeth...( and I WOULD have a unibrow if I didn't pluck my eyebrows and I can't go there Frida..I gotta sit that one out girl).
What I am saying is this....... that middles give us a great chance to settle in and take a look. See what kind of magic we already have and what we can do with it if we are brave enough.
Let's start today.......For the love of Frida......For the love of being in the middle.
One Love,
Danielle
No comments:
Post a Comment