Katherine with
Flowers- Shizu Saldamando
Shizu Saldamando
I had seen this artists’ artwork before and I assumed
the artist was male. And of only Mexican descent. It reminds me of prison art-
which sometimes it’s created on scarves or panos. “18 With a Bullet” is a good
song. For some reason seeing these works on bed sheets makes the work more
sensitive or emotional. The fabric of a bed sheet is very thin and delicate and
comfortable. The subjects in the art are all embracing. The work is all done in
pen, which also can be a very sensitive permanent mark. The arrangement or
installation of the bed sheets remind me of childhood and how if there is no
clothes dryer appliance, the sheets will hang in the backyard exposed and
drifting delicately in the breeze. Her connection to Manzanar in a work she
did, divides her into a different strong cultural attachment. She has made
paper flowers and included them in her installations- and it connects to how in
Japanese internment camps out in the desert, fresh flowers were not available
so paper ones were used.
Betsabee Romero.
Cars
Mexico city smog tires. Narcos. There are a lot of different things this artist
uses to create her art and get her messages across using familiar things that
one can relate to or be familiar with instead of being so obscure and
alienating. Before reading about what her concepts were really about, I did
grasp on most of her ideas. Anyone in my opinion can get an idea after learning
that she’s from Mexico City that her artwork is related to her cultural
environment. So many cars, tires, smog in the city- and she has found a way of
turning these permanent things into something great and beautiful; in the case
of the tires that can be rolled like stamps to create repetitive patterns. At
first, I thought of the tires as a connection to the Mayan/Aztec ball game and
it being its only connection. Also, the painted hoods of the cars that survived
terrible accidents, remind me of Frida Kahlo and the story telling with words
or images on the artwork itself- explaining. The star piñata- reminds me of
Yoko Ono’s “wishing tree”. The hanging installations of stamped ribbons remind
me of the streets in Mexico around Christmas holiday time when people in the
street put up “composturas” and have posadas. The tequila installation and the
double-edged sword agave plant is really interesting. Made of actual machete
swords of silver? All connects different ways of how the country’s people can make
an income. Silver mines, agriculture machete use, tequila process…The process
of tequila and how its made, can ruin the environment but attracts so much
money to the Mexican tequila companies. Betsabee also has concept cars that
make the viewer look closer, and walk around and look further beyond the
obvious. The “Narco” car concept is very much an unfortunate part of Mexico
now. But, I like how the car has such a strong presence- you can walk around
it, question it, touch it, and think about what it is doing looking how it is
and its possible relationship or connection to the viewer.
Frida Kahlo, The Two
Fridas (Las dos Fridas), 1939, oil on
canvas, 67-11/16 x 67-11/16 inches
Frida Kahlo,
“Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair” (1940)
These three images, are my most favorite of all of the
Frida artworks. I have only been physically impressed by a couple of works of
art ever so far. “The Two Fridas” is one of those works. I saw the surrealist
show at LACMA when they had this painting there.I had no idea of the dimensions
and it literally made me want to start crying; but I didn’t- there was a lot of
people there. It was almost as if I was standing in person with the two women
watching them bleed and I felt a sadness toward these women who were attached
by an artery and they couldn’t move. I like the bright colors in all of her
art. It’s almost like a festive/happiness thing that is present in her work,
even though the subject may be otherwise.The portrait of Frida with cropped
hair, kept me with short hair for a long time. It’s so offensive. It’s so disappointing
how the Mexican culture is so specific on how women should be to be more
desirable. It reminds me of my mom and it kinda pisses me off. The last
photograph of Frida, I really like. It’s very serene. She’s floating on water
in what appears to be a canoe and is drifting while she puts her hands in the
water…. I like that.
Carlee Fernandez
Some things I liked of her artwork and some things not
so much. I would like to try taking photos like my parents’ old photos too.
It’s a direct reflection? I also find her undocumented drawings of
interventions interesting. I don’t know if they are actually real findings, or
just ideas that she’s had as far as crossing illegal immigrants. It shows a
despair that people have to change their life and are willing to risk
suffocation or arrests etc. I don’t like taxidermy- it makes me physically sick
and dizzy, but only when I see it in person. If there is a lot of animals
taxidermized (?) I get anxiety. “Room of death”. I don’t know how much her
taxidermy work sells for, but I find it disrespectful to stretch and cut and
sew an animals face and display it. But, here’s where I think I’m bull shitting
because at my house, leather couches all around. And I think I have some real
leather boots. So I’ll sit on a dead cows’ skin wearing fuzzy pajamas and
stinky feet and step all over puddles and mud with what used to be a poor
animals body. But still, just seeing the faces of the animals just sucks. Those
poor little parakeets- as much as they annoy me, I don’t think it’s cool to
taxidermy them for gallery display.
I’m still not quite clear on what exactly or how his concepts connect. I couldn’t find much information on his personal life, but I can see that in some artworks, the relationship with God or a higher being is expressed. Some of his artwork is very obvious and literal, but there are others that aren’t very clear. His neon work, not so clear. His posters with short phrases- some not so clear either. His statues of men in prayer or contemplation are creepy and I don’t understand them-so like anything people fear, There’s a lack of understanding. The work “redemption of the flesh, its just a little bruise; the politics of the future as urgent as the blue sky”, I really hope it’s fake blood. I can only think of the smell of the artwork. It is very gory to me. Or maybe too disturbing in how it is too much “in your face”, you can’t just see it for three seconds and walk by- you have to stand there and have some sort of reaction to either is harshness or its brilliantness. It’s like video games in person.
