The Art of Abu Ghraib (Botero)

[marmar]

The art of Abu Ghraib
Louis Freedberg

Monday, January 22, 200


AT LEAST two questions hang over the exhibit of Fernando Botero's paintings and drawings on the shameful abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq that will open at the main library at UC Berkeley a week from today.

The first is what drove Botero, who typically draws whimsical, oversized pneumatic figures that have enormous popular appeal, to undertake these paintings in the first place.

The second is why they'll be displayed in a Berkeley library, rather than in the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim in New York, or SFMOMA.

Let's start with the first question.

The 73-year-old Colombian artist spent 14 months painting a series of 80 drawings and paintings that depict pain, degradation and torture -- all in the style of his more popular work.

"Once in a while something comes along that strikes you in a dramatic way," Botero told me when we talked by telephone from Mexico last week. He pointed out that he has taken on more explicitly political subjects in the past, such as his series on the ravages of the drug trade in Colombia.

He said he wasn't intending to "shock people or to accuse anyone" with his Abu Ghraib depictions. He didn't do them for commercial reasons (they're not for sale). "You do it because it is in your gut, you are upset, you are furious, you have to get it out of your system."

Nonetheless, he hopes that as Abu Ghraib fades from memory -- the prison is slated for demolition -- the paintings will be a reminder of what happened there. "People would forget about Guernica were it not for Picasso's masterpiece," he said. "Art is a permanent accusation. "

The trickier question is why no U.S. museum chose to exhibit them. The only other place they have been shown in the United States was last November at New York's private Marlborough Gallery, which has been showing and selling Botero's work for decades. .....(more)

The rest of the article is at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/01/22/EDGC7N728U1.DTL&hw=art+of+abu&sn=001&sc=1000

[TexasLawyer]

1. Thanks for posting

http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,462350,00.jpg

I love Botero's work, and I think these will be important paintings.

[RagingInMiami]

2. I was in Colombia over the holidays

And Botero's paintings are everywhere. They are very proud of him down there. If we can't appreciate them here, I'm sure they'll find a home for them down there.

[peacetalksforall]

3. I would quick add Botero's name to the subject line - you will

increase readership. Maybe even Guernica. Thanks for the education. I will keep an eye out for them. These may make him even bigger.

[marmar]

4. Done.

:hi: