Staff Pick Saturdays Jen on Fernando Botero Fernando Botero, 82, is probably the most famous living Latin American artist, his painting style characterized by rotund, wildly inflated objects and figures. Art is deformation for Mr. Botero, the artist indulging in a frequently comic disregard for natural proportions. He is essentially a painter, though in the 1970s he turned to sculpture. This was a logical step in Botero’s career, for his figures tend to create the illusion of three-dimensionality on canvas. In general, his sculptures have the same bloated characteristics as his painted figures, but are much bigger in scale, sometimes exceeding 10 feet in height and weighing over a ton. In painting or sculpture, the artist focuses mainly on everyday life, specifically Colombian society: his preferred subjects include food, music and religion. But he is also deeply interested in art history, frequently appropriating and deforming figures from famous works by Picasso, Degas. This has led some critics to compare his inflated forms to caricatures, even satires, which sometimes they are. Botero has tremendous skills as a painter; he has the dexterity of an old master. He brings something fresh and new to old genres such as portraiture. Yes, Botero is a caricaturist, but he is also a sensualist – creating warm-hearted, eye-catching images through exaggerated form.
Posted on: Sat, 12 Jul 2014 11:30:01 +0000
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