Frida Kahlo print at Frist

On Sunday I did a quick walk through the Mexican prints on the second floor of the Frist. I need to spend time with it. Among all the serious, socially conscious figures of peasants and workers (I will look at them and feel virtuous), two prints stuck out. One is a Frida Kahlo print, called El Aborto or The Miscarriage that she did after having a miscarriage. It’s a picture of her, with a fetus inside, another fetus or baby outside attached to her with the umbilical cord, some strange things that look like they could be scientific drawings of a zygote splitting, and a bunch of plants, blood or tears flowing down one of her legs. If you like Lesley Patterson-Marx’s stuff, you should see this. The combination of images, their arrangement. It’s like Lesley’s aesthetic grandmother. And right next to it is this wild Diego Rivera piece that seems out of character for him. It’s called The Communicating Vessels, a tribute to Andre Breton. Tree roots encircle the mouth and branches wind into the eye sockets of a face whose brain sits exposed on the forehead, in the third eye position. It’s done in real strong red and black and looks like it could be the poster for a rock show.