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When I Have Wings to Fly
Suzy Birstein
Suzy Birstein’s current exhibition speaks to tapping into your imagination and being at one with your material, your spirit, and your world. The work was informed by the life and art of Frida Kahlo, merged with intersecting influences from Birstein's personal experiences and memories of her mother’s life. She views Frida as a symbol of empowerment and strength, a person who takes something that is tragic and transcends and transforms it through her notion of beauty.
Moved by Frida Kahlo’s story and infamous words, “Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?” Birstein began exploring how the historical figure relates to her history by turning to art to heal her spirit. Even when Frida was constrained by physical and emotional difficulties, she found ways to reach into her creative self and soar. Motivated by these concepts, Birstein created Frida-inspired works using contemporary techniques of clay, oil, collage, and integrating personal objects.
“When I Have Wings to Fly” combines Birstein’s artworks in varying times of her life to illustrate an evolving relationship between her images, materials and poetic imagination. It also is a continuation of her series of clay portraiture “Ladies Not Waiting,” derived from the Baroque masterpiece Los Meninas, [Ladies-in-Waiting] by Diego Velézquez.
In addition, Birstein incorporates pieces from her “Tsipora" self-portrait series. Tsipora, her Hebrew name, means ’bird' or ‘taking flight’. Like the Frida-inspired works, the birds in this series symbolize a freedom of spirit, but also of nesting; taking flight, but also having a place to land.
Birstein invites the viewer to converse with the intertwined stories of herself, her mother, Frida Kahlo and other historical figures to embody an appreciation of resilience, resourcefulness and beauty.
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Suzy Birstein
Artist Statement
The artist references historical women and popular culture in order to build composites of a current ‘self.’ She channels an eclectic mix of past female powerhouses like Frida Kahlo, Queen Nefertiti, Carmen Miranda, Gelede, Catrina Calaveras, Ganesha, South Asian goddesses, Athena and Acropolis Korai, and Alice in Wonderland. The women are ecstatic, gazing at the viewer through layers of past knowledge.
“Everything about Frida is about her art and her life as one, as an expression of creativity.” Birstein says, “That, I took as a model for what my life should be.”
"Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, 1940, is one of my favourite Frida self portraits. In it she is at her most beautiful, surrounded by flowers, butterflies, her monkey and cat. Her direct stare compels us to reflect upon her body in pain, her complex relationship with Diego and her relentless drive."
"The metal headdress references an iron clad spirit, topped with a golden bird holding my mother’s pill box. Both Frida and my mother required medication to alleviate their pain, which they housed in these beautiful containers."
"About 20 years ago, while visiting Frida’s Blue House in Coyoacán, I bought a series of paper-mâché creatures from a local folk artist that eventually broke. I have reconstructed the pieces throughout this sculpture and others.
"As with Frida’s painting, I replaced the deer’s head with her own for the headdress of this sculpture. However, rather than the nails piercing the deer’s body that signify her suffering, they reinforce the ceramic head to the paper-mâché body, emphasizing Frida’s strength. I mirror this relationship by having Frida wear one of my repurposed deer heads as an amulet."
"In 2018, The Victoria and Albert Museum curated an exhibit titled Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up, displaying an intimate collection of Frida's clothing, jewelry, make-up, and prosthetics. Diego Rivera, her husband and artist, had specified that this treasure trove of objects not to opened until 50 years after Frida's death. Nickolas Muray photographs of Frida Kahlo solidify her image at the height of her career and act as an entry point into the objects of her home and studio; the makings of her career."
"Seeing Frida's treasured things, similar to those my mother left me, led me to incorporate my mother's treasures into my sculptures. In this piece, on top of the metal treble clef rests my mother's “La Vie est Belle” perfume bottle. The metal rod or 'treble clef' represents the brace that supports Frida's broken spine due to her trolley accident. Mr. Xototl, Frida's hairless dog, nestles within her braids with her paintbrush. Her dog signifies Frida's love for the companionship with animals to ease her despair of being unable to bear children. I have always identified with Frida how she uses personal and artistic endeavors to transcend her pain into beauty."
Suzy Birstein, Armored Amour, After Nickolas Muray, Portraits and The Diary of Frida Kahlo. 23" x 12" x 10", fired ceramic, $3000.
"This is another connection between myself, my mother and Frida. Frida kept a journal, I keep a journal and my mother was a journalist. Frida could not bear children and pursued her art. As a young woman in the 1950s, my mother was persuaded to choose between her career and having children. I am blessed to have both."
"Frida and I both love playing dress-up, being fiercely self-expressive, and feeling nurtured and protected by this act. I have dressed Frida in images from her journal, including one line that reads, “I hand you my universe, and you live in me…” a love poem to Diego. The sun and moon are personifications of Frida and Diego, as their conflict and love in their relationship work in tandem with each other."
"The arms of a blue golden tree reach to the Universe.
The Universe embraces Mother Earth who embraces Frida.
Frida nurtures Diego like the baby she could never have.
She settles in a tutu field of blue roses."
"The tangled braid mirrors Frida’s wild emotional state. Adorned with a garden gown of leaves and spiky butterflies, she is at one with nature. However, resting on her head is a Día de Muertos skeleton playing the harp, who acknowledges our mortality, and making friends with death."
"The Hamsa hand is a universal symbol of unity and protection. Picasso bestowed Frida with a white Hamsa earring that he made and Frida painted herself wearing it. I look at this as moment when two of my spirit mentors were in harmony."
Suzy Birstein, Taming the Wild, Nestled to A Rose, After Frida Kahlo, Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, 1940. 24" x 13" x 10", fired ceramic, $3000.
"The original cat from Frida’s painting has morphed into a sphinx that is nestled into a rose. For me, the sphinx is a symbol of protection, love, wisdom and the power of the feminine spirit."
"Instead of thorns weighing down Frida’s neck like a burden, I have placed a bird on her head symbolizing freedom and imagination."
"Frida had pet monkeys. I’ve dressed this one like her. For me, they symbolize her children, children she was unable to have. It is also about taming the wild. Frida herself, being an example of this."
Detail images of Taming the Wild, Nestled to A Rose, 24" x 13" x 10", fired ceramic, $3000.
"In 1918, Frida was in a trolley accident that broke her spine; an event that defined the rest of her life and her art practice. Frida refers to her spine as a broken column in her painting and her journal. My piece echoes the broken column in her neck, but it remerges from the head as sturdy spine supporting a dynamic figure. My figure reimagines the falling woman in Frida’s journal titled "I am disintegration"."
"The Revlon lipstick was my mother’s, and Frida wore the same lipstick. This is not only a self-portrait of Frida, but one of myself. It is about outward beautification and empowerment; for Frida, my mother and myself."
"Frida had pet deer in her life and to her they symbolize herself as simultaneously wounded and empowered to express her deepest most authentic self. As a reference to my medium, the deer on the front of Frida’s dress has kiln cones in place of arrows. They are used by Ceramicists to indicate kiln temperature automatically shut off the kiln."
"The golden paintbrush is in place of her arm. It is a symbol for the disintegration of Frida’s body throughout her life and the regrowth of it through her art."
"The birds throughout this piece are an extension of Frida’s body. For me, birds symbolize a freedom of spirit but also of nesting - a taking off, but also having a place to land, much as my Tsipora series. The birds are an extension of us."
"The Royal Doulton Bouquet intertwined with the other flowers in Frida’s hair and body, is a collectible my mother had. It is one of the many references to my mother as well as to Frida’s connection with nature."
Suzy Birstein, Mi Diego, Ya No Estoy Sola, After Frida Kahlo, Diego in My Thoughts, 1943. 20" x 16" x 12", fired ceramic and metal, $3400.
"A portrait of Diego embedded in her forehead, with a crown of thorns on her head, and tears on her cheeks, references a time of infidelities, infinite love, self-sacrifice and spirituality."
"In good times, Frida dressed and painted herself as a Tehuana, which pleased Diego. It also pleased her, as Tehuana's are icon of an ancient Mexican matriarchal society and wearing this magnificent clothing was empowering."
"The back of the sculpture was inspired by Frida’s drawings and writings in her journals. She merges herself and Diego as one, even when they are torn apart. The journal in fact is one long love poem to Diego. As she writes 'Mi Diego, Ya no estoy sola' (My Diego, I am no longer alone)."
"This is one of the first sculptures I made referencing Frida. It has a golden arm in pieces, signifying the disintegration of her body, and one of her favorite pets, monkeys, on the plinth."
"This piece was originally accompanied by a performance art video of me “tapping to the muse” amongst my life size sculptures. “My D’Lovely Fever” is on YouTube."
When I Have Wings to Fly has been presented as a hybrid of a live exhibition installed in the gallery and a digital exhibition. An in-person Exhibition Reception was held with the artists on July 28, 2022. PoMoArts Gallery is open daily for in-person visits. See PoMoArts.ca for Gallery hours.
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Credits:
Byron Dauncey photos