Mexican Geniuses

A Fabulous Morning In Surrey Quays

The Mexican Geniuses Immersive Experience is currently on at Dock X in Surrey Quays, London.  Like The Van Gogh Immersive Experience it was a wonderful way to learn a lot about the lives and works of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera – two artists I was aware of – but knew very little about. The “immersive” part was the story of their lives with the relevant art works to those periods.

Diego Rivera is known mainly for his murals. He said “Mural painting is a functional part of the life of a building”. He also believed this to be true of sculpture and architecture. As well as his extraordinary murals he created fountains, facades and an underwater fresco for Mexico City’s main water supply reservoir.

Frida Kahlo is known for her many portraits, particularly her self portraits, and works inspired by Mexico’s popular folk culture. As a child she was knocked over by a bus and never fully recovered. She was left with health problems for the rest of her life and after 3 miscarriages had to accept that she would never have children. This had a profound affect on her painting.

In 1922 Diego met Frida Kahlo and it was to be a tumultuous relationship. They married 7 years later but both had numerous other relationships during their marriage.

Of Diego , Frida said *Diego showed me the revolutionary meaning of life and the true meaning of colour”. And of her struggles with health and her miscarriages she wrote in her diary “My painting carries within the message of pain.”

Both were political figures in Mexico. Diego was connected to the communist party and Frida used a native folk art style to explore questions of identity, postcolonialism, gender, class and race in Mexican society. They were both very much ahead of their time.

I highly recommend this experience – again the digital effects were fantastic and the sound track was powerful and evocative.