36: Rosa Rolanda - from Broadway Dancer to Surrealist

We are back, we are wide-eyed, almost Bratz Dolls eyed (!) and South of the Border 🇲🇽

This time diving into the work of Rosa Rolanda, who metamorphosis-ized 🦋 from a famous Broadway dancer into a Surrealist late in life.

Full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-CVdxpnwBc

Along the way she crossed paths with figures like Man Ray. It's likely she even learned the photogram process from him, which she then made uniquely her own. Her photograms feel like intimate journal doodles crossed with the raw energy of punk zines from the early '90s.

She also met her soon-to-be partner and collaborator, the Mexican artist Miguel Covarrubias—also known as 'El Chamaco.'

Together, they became Mexico's first artistic power couple, predating even Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Their groundbreaking work, the book "Island of Bali," was the first comprehensive account of Balinese culture for the Western world, detailing its art, music, dance, and rituals.

But it's her paintings that have this incredible, haunting feeling of anemoia—a nostalgia for a time you've never known. This gives them a distinct '90s or early 2000s vibe. On the surface, they seem simple and illustrative, but on a second, third, or even fourth look, you start to peel back all these incredible visual and narrative layers."

Topics include:

Bratz Dolls and Crazy Town

Frida Kahlo and Arte Popular at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston

the Museo de Arte Moderno

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art