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When texting, do you ever sigh and think to yourself “this message could really do with a Frida Kahlo emoji”? Well, fear no more because all of your Kahlo-inspired technological dreams are now a reality.
Out of Kahlo’s 143 paintings, 55 are self-portraits, making her the perfect subject for a set of emoji. They come courtesy of LA’s Cantor Fine Art gallery, and are designed by Sam Cantor.
Cantor runs the gallery with his father, and asked their Instagram followers which artists they’d like to see emoji-fied (yes, we’re aware that’s not technically a word).
He designed some seriously cute emoji of the likes of Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Seeing as Kahlo seemed to whip up the most excitement, he decided to make her a dedicated set of emoji in partnership with the Frida Kahlo Corporation.
It was by no means a simple process. Cantor told Artsy that the main problem they faced was doing the artist full justice.
He said: “How do we express that Frida is more than just a unibrow and a flower crown?”
He’s successfully achieved this by using some of Kahlo’s most famous self-portraits as a jumping-off point. Pieces like “The broken column” and “Self-portrait with thorn necklace and hummingbird” are given the royal emoji treatment.
Beatriz Alvarado of the Frida Kahlo Corporation told the website: “We both wanted to channel her voice into everyday life – and, in particular, to connect millennials and centennials to her work.
“Working with new technologies, like emoji, felt like a powerful way to do that.”
They accept that not everyone will be entirely on board with this way of representing the artist, but Alvarado says: “We want to express that Frida and her work represent change, free will, self-expression, and individuality, and I can’t imagine that she would have objected to that.”
FridaMoji is now available on the App Store, and says it is: “35 Emoji including a mix of animated gifs and static emoji capturing a wide range of Frida’s passion and iconic work.”
Insert suitably excited FridaMoji here.
