tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37627577.post3351398526895802774..comments2024-02-12T16:32:03.714-08:00Comments on Book of Kells: Oz & Frida Kahlo's GhostKelli Russell Agodon - Book of Kellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01798460634708905783noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37627577.post-30422081583773986702007-11-28T18:57:00.000-08:002007-11-28T18:57:00.000-08:00This past weekend I went to a large exhibit of Fri...This past weekend I went to a large exhibit of Frida Kahlo's paintings at the Walker Art Center here in Minneapolis. It was remarkable, needless to say. Most of the paintings were familiar to me from the many reproductions I've seen over the years, though this was the first time I'd seen any of her originals.<BR/><BR/>Some things that struck me about the paintings in general: the somewhat muted quality of the colors in many of them; a certain -- I want to say -- flatness of texture (not highly brushstroked or layered, but more of a varnished or lacquered surface, but not glossy or shiny, if that makes any sense); and, I was surprised by how small many of the paintings were, even some of the fantastic mural-like images with much going on in them.<BR/><BR/>The work of many painters draws me into the painting -- I look at a Van Gogh olive orchard, and I immediately find myself walking in the orchard, feeling the sun, hearing birds, etc. Kahlo's images on the other hand seemed to me almost to step out of the paintings, to become life-size presences in the room with all of the other people in the gallery walking around looking at them.<BR/><BR/>The exhibit also included, in one gallery room, a large number of photographs of Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and their many friends, from over the course of her life.<BR/><BR/>I got there early which was a good thing, because I got in without having to stand in line. By the time I left an hour later, the line was long and there was a sign informing people it would be a 20-30 minute wait to get in.<BR/><BR/>I love the writing prompt of "Frida Kahlo's Ghost," though having seen several dozen of her paintings a few days ago, a mere ghost might come as a little bit of a letdown. But will see.<BR/><BR/>Actually, last night and today I started on a poem, so far just a couple of fragments, that started with a random glance at a picture of Virginia Woolf on the cover of a book about her (actually a picture of the book cover, in the current issue of Bloomsbury Review), and immediately came to me the image of her drowning -- so maybe Virginia Woolf's ghost.<BR/><BR/>Cold here now, 9 degrees when I got to work yesterday morning. No snow on the ground yet, but supposed to be coming over the next few days. Ghost time, for sure.Lyle Daggetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10731915540520704368noreply@blogger.com