RECENT EXHIBITION REVIEW BY ARTIST

Exhibition Review
Botero in Singapore
Venue: SAM, Singapore
Date: 9 December 2004 - 27 February 2005



By Norlizah Zainul Abeedin

For the first time, Fernando Botero a world-renown Colombian sculptor and painter has put himself at the centre-stage of Asia. He has established himself in the major cities of the world-class art events and exhibitions namely in Baaden, Germany in 1966 to Paris, France in 2003 and this time he is heading towards Asia.
Singapore, who is emerging as a new and challenging arena for art discourse is privileged to be the host of Botero’s solo exhibition of such importance and magnitute. It would not be enough to say about Botero of his unique and authentic presentation as a “Colombia’s soul”. He also claimed for himself the distinction in a trade-mark of the unusually exaggerated size of human, object and animal inflated and voluptuous forms whether of paintings or sculptures.
As a prolific artist of today, the seductive and powerful looks of Paris or New York were never considered as the subject matter of his works. The sources of his art practice were most significant of the Colombian culture and its people in magnifying his own identity of a native Colombian.
Though Botero may be a passé in conforming to the underlying issues of yet another paradigm of social and political conditions in his paintings, I was quite overwhelmed by the sense of monumentality of the figures even at the different hierarchical division of society between the authority, the church and the common people as depicted by Botero.
Whatever underlying intentions he chose to elevate in his works, the innocence of “The boy on the swing” and the beauty of nakedness of “The Bath” would give the viewers a perculiar but refreshing form of aesthetics though certain details of proportion has to be compromised.
Women often takes centre-stage in art works by famous artists simply because of the gaze by the phallocratic male. One may be relished with a certain sense whether of hunour or shame when looking at “El Elstudio”, “Woman Undressing” or “The beach” from the perspective least anticipated - their back. However the gaze may invite one to ponder over from a perspective purely of its beauty as viewed by Botero.
The sculpture trail comprising 20 monumental sculpture at different locations of SAM, the Esplanade Park, The Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, Changi Airport Terminal 2 and Suntec City Lobby would indefinitely provide the viewer with an enriching experience of yet another distinct form of visual expression, like that of the bronze sculpture of “ Horse”, “Woman with fruit” and “Adam”.
One may be too exhausted to consume Botero’s identical concept especially those of his sculptures. – if you have seen one of his works, you have seen them all. However, Botero has his views of aesthetics from the underlying elements of the exaggerated size of the subject matter of his works in his own unique and immaculate style projected from both his paintings and sculptures. You have to be meticulously engaged in viewing Botero’s works before you would be able to see in a different perspective of what Botero has to show.