"Felizmente Casados"

Gabriel Navar takes on Frida Kahlo's painting

"Felizmente Casados"
24" x 18"
© 2003 Gabriel Navar

There are many reasons why I became interested in creating this painting. I had recently watched the film Frida and also had recently seen a color reproduction of Frida Kahlo's painting of her wedding portrait to husband, Mexican muralist, Diego Rivera in the arts section of my local newspaper. The image of her painting was echoing in me and I felt an urge to paint a version of my own. Since I teach art appreciation and art history at a couple East Bay (California) colleges, I often confront paintings in art history that inspire me to explore and re-contextualize the images and symbols.

I was interested in how virtually everything can be priced and sold, in stores, in catalogs, on television, on the world wide web, etc. Diego and Frida are "presented" as products and even have price tags where they are for "sale" and may be "enjoyed" as two for the price of one. Diego and Frida are "presented" as if on a stage or storefront for viewing or for shopping. I was also interested in using the image of a parrot, an intelligent and beautiful bird that often repeats words and phrases that it hears, as a symbol. In this context, I am using the parrot as a symbol for repetition and copying. Not only did I "become" a parrot by copying Frida's painting (although I altered it), I am aware that society, especially the consumer, often "copies" what others do and often mimics others by purchasing what others purchase.

In the painting, I also included an almost "hidden" face looking melancholy and disappointed (the face was inspired by a Madonna portrait study sketched by Leonardo da Vinci).

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