Around Town: Take the Frida Kahlo exit
We set out from La Cañada last Sunday to see the annual Frida Kahlo exhibit at the ChimMaya Gallery in East Los Angeles.
Dan Gonzalez, one of the owners, told us that there has been an influx of Pasadena people visiting the gallery, which has not one, but two Pokemon Go hotspots.
Some of the Pokemon tourists took the Gold line, but the shortest route from La Cañada Flintridge is Linda Vista to Orange Grove to Fremont Avenue to Monterey Pass Road to Beverly Boulevard, for a total of 15 miles. Google Maps says it takes 40 minutes, but it only took us 30.
Then there’s the longer, quicker freeway route — the 2 Freeway to the 5 South to the 10 East to the 60 East to Pomona Boulevard/South Hillview to Beverly, for a total of 19 miles, in 20 minutes.
The goal each September is to see the Frida! exhibit, presented annually as an “homage” to Frida Kahlo, the Mexican painter.
I have a particular interest in Frida because of my name. My name is Anita Brenner. My parents always told me that they didn’t exactly mean to name me after the other Anita Brenner, who they had coincidentally met through their various artist circles, but (wink, wink) wasn’t it nice that they did? My dad, a musician, and his writer/artist friends, admired her greatly.
The other Anita Brenner was an influential Mexican-American critic, journalist and art historian, the author of “Idols Behind Altars: Modern Mexican Art and Its Cultural Roots ” and “The Wind that Swept Mexico, ” and a few children’s books. She grew up on both sides of the border. She was the child of emigré Jews from Europe.
She also wrote about her friends, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. That’s why, at an early age, I was hooked on Frida Kahlo’s art. I only knew her art, not her life story, nor the miserable tumult of her marriage to artist Diego Rivera.
Years ago, the exhibit featured copies of Frida’s iconic self-portraits, with her indigenous garb and dark eyebrows, but with a bit of a twist. One my favorites is a painting of Selma Hayek as Frida by local artist Juan Solis.
This year’s exhibit has a different mood. An artist known as “The Dead Beatnik,” who purportedly lives in Glendale, presented “Fighting Frida,” with Frida, in her traditional headdress, in a boxing ring, with boxing gloves. He had other pieces that were critical of Diego. One had Frida pregnant with Diego’s head, entitled, “26 years hard labor.”
Another artist, Christina Ramos, painted a puppet master Diego, controlling the Frida marionette, in “Master of Manipulation.”
We also saw a beautiful piece by a young Mexican artist, Efrain Becerra Castañeda, who now resides in Los Angeles.
This year’s exhibit featured a younger group of artists. The Millennials are coming into their own, and there’s a unique edge to the exhibit.
ChimMaya is located at 5283 E Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90022. Phone: (323) 869-8881. It’s definitely worth the trip.
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ANITA SUSAN BRENNER is a longtime La Cañada Flintridge resident and an attorney with Law Offices of Torres and Brenner in Pasadena. Contact her at anitasusan.brenner@yahoo.com. Follow her on Instagram @realanitabrenner, Facebook and on Twitter @anitabrenner.