Modern art vignettes of Mexican life

THOSE who first discovered Mexican art through the 2002 movie on Frida Kahlo, would remember Diego Rivera as "Frida's husband".

But it's Rivera's public murals on government and private buildings and his legacy that looms larger in Mexican art and culture, and even politics, as an upcoming exhibition at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts' Lim Hak Tai Galleries will show.

"When you look at Rivera's works, whether or not you like them, you can't divorce them from Mexican art history and the history of art in Europe and North America either," notes art writer and journalist Santiago Espinosa de los Monteros, who will be giving a talk on Saturday on the famed artist.

A unique collection of 34 paintings and sketches by the renowned muralist makes its debut in South-east Asia. Diego Rivera: Pride of Mexico will include reproductions - i…