New exhibit looks at Mexican artist’s life
By Kevin Duggan It is a giant show with an intimate
feel.
An expansive new exhibit
on iconic Mexican painter Frida
Kahlo offers an amazingly personal
look into the artist’s life.
“Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can
Be Deceiving,” now showing at the
Brooklyn Museum, brings a host
of her private items to the United
States for the first time, including
her clothes, jewelry, cosmetics,
medicines, and orthopedic corsets,
which she wore after a bus accident
broke her spine at age 18.
The exhibit demonstrates how
Kahlo meticulously fashioned her
public persona, both in her appearance
and in her artwork, according
to one of the show’s curators.
“The show expands our understanding
of Kahlo by revealing
the unique power behind the ways
she presented herself in the world
and depicted herself in art,” said
Catherine Morris.
Among the objects on display
are two of the plaster corsets Kahlo
wore while in the hospital after
her accident. She used a mirror
to draw the communist symbol
of the hammer and sickle on the
front of the casts, integrating them
into her wardrobe and making the
bulky items seem like deliberately
chosen pieces.
The exhibit also shows how
she used her sartorial choices to
champion the cultural renaissance
known as Mexicanidad, by publicly
wearing Tehuana dresses she
bought from indigenous vendors in
Mexico City.
The curators sourced Kahlo’s
belongings from her lifelong
Mexico City home Casa Azul, or
Blue House, which is now a museum
dedicated to the artist.
COURIER L 54 IFE, FEB, 15-21, 2019 24-7
By Colin Mixson The mac is back!
Amateur chefs from
across the borough will take
their best mac-and-cheese recipes
out of the kitchen and into the arena
of public opinion on Feb. 17, when
they will battle for everlasting glory
— and top-of-the-line home-cooking
appliances — at a beloved Kings
County cook-off!
“These people are brilliant cooks,
but usually the only people they
get to impress is their family and
friends,” said Matt Timms, creator
and host of the Takedown cooking
competition series. “They have
this incredible creativity, but no one
to show it to, so they’re definitely
bringing their A game.”
Timm’s cheese-based Takedown
event, now in its 15th year, gives
ticket holders the opportunity to
taste some of the best home cooking
Brooklyn has to offer — and
then judge it mercilessly — ensuring
that only the tastiest dishes will
rise to the top.
“It’s going to be really tasty,”
said Timms.
It is also going to get weird,
Icon: “Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving” hosts an array of the artist’s personal
belongings. She visited New York City several times — this photo by Nickolas
Murayher shows her on a Manhattan rooftop in 1946. Brooklyn Museum
because there is only one rule in
Mac ‘n’ Cheeze Takedown: there
are no rules. Contestants have
been known to take the event right
off the rails, with delicacies only
vaguely related to the dairy-based
soul food, he said.
“I remember somebody made
mac-and-cheese ice cream,” he said.
“They can get highly experimental.”
In addition to the people’s choice
awards, the competitors will also
vie for the affection of professional
cooks — including Kings County
caterers Jeremy Leech and Jenn de
la Vega, who authored “Showdown
Comfort Food” — who will decide
first, second, and third-place winners
in a judge’s category.
Judge mac and cheese at Lot 45
411 Troutman St. between Wyckoff
and St. Nicholas avenues in Bushwick,
(347) 505–9155, www.lot45bushwick.
com. Feb. 17 at 2 pm. $25.
TBy Natallie Rocha he cat’s out of the bag and
on the screen!
The internet’s
best cat videos will purr into
Alamo Drafthouse this month!
CatVideoFest, at the Alamo
Drafthouse Cinema on Feb. 23 and
24, combines some of the cutest
kitty videos into a 70-minute feline
feature film. The flick’s 115 clips
of cats were personally selected
by the organizer of the festival,
who combs through thousands of
submissions and edits them into a
masterpiece of the internet’s finest
fuzzy export.
“Part of the appeal of
CatVideoFest is that it’s kind of
homespun,” said Will Braden.
The traveling film also offers
a purr-fect opportunity to help
cats in need — a portion of ticket
sales from the screenings will go to
Animal Care Centers of New York.
But you should purr-chase tickets
quickly — it is likely to sell out!
CatVideoFest at Alamo
Drafthouse Cinema (445 Albee
Sq. West, fourth floor, between
Willoughby and Fulton streets
Downtown, www.catvideofest.
com). Feb. 23 at 5:45 pm; Feb. 24
at 3:30 pm. $15.
Cheese it: Amateur chefs will battle for mac and cheese supremacy at an upcoming
people’s choice cook-off on Feb. 17. Matt Timms
Feline film: The CatVideo Fest will showcase the internet’s cutest cats in a
70-minute film screening at Alamo Drafthouse on Feb. 23 and 24. CatVideo Fest
At the Brooklyn Museum, the
artifacts are arranged to focus on
different themes in Kahlo’s life,
including her communist politics,
her turbulent marriage to fellow
painter Diego Rivera, and her visits
to the United States.
Kahlo visited New York several
times, first in 1931 when her husband
was commissioned to paint
a mural at Rockefeller Center, and
again in 1937 when she returned to
exhibit her own work. She immediately
fell in love with the city,
but the disparity of wealth she saw
reaffirmed her political convictions,
according to the exhibit.
The show also features a surprising
connection between Kahlo
and the Bard of Brooklyn. A collection
of Walt Whitman’s poems,
translated into Spanish, was found
on her bedside table when she died
in 1954.
The curators of the show hope
that the display of Kahlo’s work
and her life can help to offset
negative portrayals of Mexico that
are common in American politics,
and that it can offer visitors a
more accurate picture of Mexico’s
vibrant cultural heritage, according
to the museum’s director.
“As we see how our neighbors
and friends in Mexico are being
portrayed here in the United States,
the time is now to spotlight more
dignified and truthful and celebratory
portraits of Mexico’s great
history, great traditions, and great
culture,” said Anne Pasternak.
“Frida Kahlo: Appearances
Can Be Deceiving” at Brooklyn
Museum 200 Eastern Pkwy., at
Washington Avenue in Prospect
Heights, www.brooklynmuseum.
org, (718) 638–5000. Running
through May 12. Timed tickets
$20–$25, untimed $35.
VIVA LA FRIDA!
Chasing the cheddar
Focus on fuzzy
Chefs compete in mac and cheese cook-off
Color instinct: Kahlo wore her distinctive
Tehuana dresses to express her
pride for indigenous Mexican culture.
Brooklyn Museum
/www.lot45bushwick
/www.catvideofest
/www.brooklynmuseum
/www.lot45bushwick
/www.catvideofest
/www.brooklynmuseum