The Frida In Me

Left: Frida Kahlo's "Girl with Death Mask", 1938; right: Samantha Grenier's "Death with Girl Mask", 2005.

I was just reading another blog post featuring the art of Stephen Mackey, and it triggered a little nostalgia. I don't know if it was in the lighting of his paintings, or maybe the tone, or my (slightly) morbid appeal, but something brought me back to a Halloween assignment from my graduate studies.

My painting was not well received at the time. I think the assignment was something along the lines of making a Halloween or depict a horror scene. Trying to be clever, I created a nod to Frida Kahlo's painting "Niña con Mascara de Muerte". Since this was for an illustration class, something a little more "illustration-y" was probably expected. Probably. I didn't get it at the time, but sometimes it's difficult to separate the "artist" from the "illustrator". 

I was always proud of my little painting, so I had the urge to share it again. I tapped into the Frida (parody) in myself so naturally back then, I am wondering if I could do it again. Poking around my digital archives, I unearthed my acrylic tribute to Frida.