Marxism Will Give Health to the Sick
Artist: Frida Kahlo
Year: 1954
Medium:Oil on panel
Dimensions: 28.8 x 23.8 in. / 73 x 60 cm
Self/Save
Artist: Verna Kai, Frieda Luk, Sisi Kam
Year: 2011
Medium: Acrylic
Dimensions: 21cm X29.7cm
Chosen Frida Kahlo’s “Marxism will give health to the sick” is base on our desire to through produce an art work to document our lifetime, our dream and our situation in Hong Kong. We named ours “Self/Save“. Similar to Frida, we want to establish and re-assure our identity through art (the motivation). At the same time, the composition and use of icon are quite similar. However, the medium, the mood and the subject matter are different.
In order to discuss “Marxism” and “Self” in details, rather discuss it in separate sphere we would like to combine to three main areas: subject matter, style and mood.
Starting from subject matter, we would describe it as “the similar motivation but different in message”. From the very beginning, we have no intention in painting a portrait; instead we choose to create a self-expressive iconic painting. Unlike Kahlo, she painted a clear and recognizable portrait at the center and with clear symbolic colors (red book-Marxism rule, green and white dress) that indicate her Mexican identity. We choose to paint a figure that would represent three of us. Actually, the figure we paint is the situation that we are now. The white dress worn by the figure is embodied with white flowers, and is much shorter than Frida’s one. Here, we are stating that unlike Kahlo, from physical and mental, there is no unbearable pain within three of us. Showing our body would be easy. However, the figure is without a facial structure. It is with ambiguous features. This symbolizes we still in search of who we are. The white flower, at one side, is representing our purity which we still clean and naive as a baby. At the other side, it is a way to express our femininity. We treasure being as a female and want to protect our identity to its genuineness and originality.
Who is the savior and who is the devil in “Self” are both ourselves which is distinct from Kahlo’s one. That means our work does not consist any political messages. What we express is how we struggle through our own lust and desire for materialism in order to survive in a profit-oriented society (indicated by the crowded infrastructure and buildings at the bottom right hand side). We believe only ourselves can save ourselves. In “Marxism”, there is a clear political stance and message that is only Marxism can save Mexico from poverty and social in-harmonious. As Frida has wrote: "Peace on Earth so the Marxist Science may Save the Sick and Those Oppressed by Criminal Yankee Capitalism". Yet, we still believe in the wisdom of eye. That makes us and Kahlo a similarity in being protected and saved by wisdom. And, that is what we expect one day we can achieve.
Like Kahlo, we have the intention in re-establishing our identity in our work too. Also, we focus on our individual expression more than anything. We use painting as a way to document the status of mind in the year of 2011. Same as Frida, she documented her mental status and thought into “Marxism”. Her enthusiasm in joining protest and movement held by Marxism integrated into the painting too.
Following, we would like to move on analyzing the similarity and differences in style. Before analyze the style, we would first point out some main points: similarity are composition, iconographic and use of space; differences are color, tone, brushstrokes and medium. These similarity and differences are clear and obvious. Even so, from our perspective, we do believe we have integrated characteristic of the Vernacular Modernism which is dialectic and with recognizable regional style. At the same time, the piece is enriched with individualistic style. Frida’s “Marxism” (more precisely is most of her paintings) is influenced by Retablos and Ex-votos which means her work are in vibrant color, iconographic, reveal directness of emotion, vivid and simplified forms and dramatic contrast. In “Marxism”, we can clearly see the trait. Firstly, is iconographic: The Marxism man, the eagle (capitalism), the dove (peaceful), the red book (Marxism rule), the mushroom-like explosion (atomic bomb), the green-white dress with the red book (Mexico flag) and so on. Secondly is the intense color: red and green, orange tone skin and blue sky are with great contrast. Thirdly is the rough, harsh and heavy brushstroke. These are revealing her immense passion for the Marxism ideology and her eagerness to get rid of the physical and mental pain caused by years. Now, we can learn how Frida’s work being described as Vernacular Modernism.
To recreate the artwork with an altar in subject matter and style, the result is that the composition, iconographic and use of space we chose to follow Frida’s “Marxism”. Since we hope when people approach to our work they can immediately think of “Marxism” and be reminded the emotion of release and being saved. As a result, (we picture that) it helps us to intensify the struggle we faced in nowadays Hong Kong and the huge expectation we put on ourselves (we can save ourselves from a financial-dominated society). As “Marxism”, the background is horizontally divided into sky and earth. Also, the earth is vertically divided into destructed land (right) and meadow (left). The blurred face figure representing us is placed in the middle. The scene which is the clear face figure and the girl with mask being clutched is placed on the right hand side to represent how we struggle to get rid of succumbing to the reality. The use of space is also as spontaneous as Frida’s. The senses of spaced is not clear. There is no sense of three dimensions. On the other hand, our work is full of iconic image. For instances, the explosion of buildings represents the real estate domination in Hong Kong; the sun represents hope; the white flower represent purity and the all-over coins represent abandoning the profit-making lust.
Moreover, we make some differences in color, tone, brushstrokes and medium. The color is more soft and coherence, not that vibrant. The tone is more tuned down, earthier. We would like to describe the brushstrokes and medium more. For the brushstrokes, overall there are lesser lines and trait. Mostly are plain and smooth areas of color. However, at the left hand side we integrated Van Gogh impressionism style in drawing “Starry Night” into our sky and meadow. It is because we want to express the dreamy and un-realistic feeling which represents our pursuit in one’s passion. More importantly, the medium is quite opposite. We choose to create something similar to collage. We painted the figures and symbol on a paper and cut it out and stick it onto the background so as to create a sticker-book like vision. This represents how we try to fit into the society without abandoning our own pursuit. At the same time, we stick our painting onto a brick-wall randomly on street and painted “Who save us!” on the wall.
The painting is the answer: only we can! To place our artwork onto the wall is mingled with Hong Kong popular art form: street art. This can help us re-establish our identity.
Last but not least, the mood overall is soften than Kahlo’s one. The color use is not that intense; the style we chose is milder; the subject matter without political statement is not serious.
In conclusion, we are inspired by frida’s artwork and we recreated it to suit our own purpose, which is to express our concern on nowadays Hong Kong. Actually, we are really enjoy on doing the project because we can practice our skills and express our ideas to the others. Even the project was finished, we won’t forget the memory that we have.
By (Animal Mask)
Kam Wan Sze
Kai Yuen
Luk Shao Shin
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