Botero Essay
Often times, art lends itself as a vehicle for political agenda. A recent example would be Fernando Botero’s series, Abu Ghraib, which is based on the torturous events that took place by US soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The series is a sharp contrast from the whimsical and oversized imagery Botero is best known for, and depicts the truculent abuse inmates were subjected to while in Abu Ghraib.
Abu Ghraib 44 (2005); Oil on Canvas, shows a prisoner stripped of his undergarments and hanging from the ceiling by a rope tied around his ankle. Completely exposed, he is severely beaten and is bleeding on various parts of his body. The colors in this painting are very dark, accentuating the blood on his body and the red hood over his head. Conventional one-point perspective is abandoned in the paintings as the bars of the cells and the lines created by the floors intersecting the walls of the prison reveal separate and arbitrary vanishing points. When combined with the sickly, muted color palette, Botero does a very convincing job in creating an uncomfortable atmosphere for the viewer. There are three paintings total and the other two depict single men fully nude, and tied to the cell bars with blood red hoods over their heads. The triptych does not make it clear, however, whether the three figures depicted are different men at the same time, or the same man at three different times. Outraged by the treatment of the prisoners, Botero, much like Picasso, created this series to further immortalize the torturous events. Every painting in the series is a direct reflection of reports released from the prison in 2005. Although the series received a large amount of critical acclaim and fanfare, Botero initially had a difficult time getting the work shown in the United States. The first exhibit of this series was actually not held in a gallery, but in a library at the University of California Berkley with an attendance upwards of 15,000 viewers. Since, the series has
Abu Ghraib 44 (2005); Oil on Canvas, shows a prisoner stripped of his undergarments and hanging from the ceiling by a rope tied around his ankle. Completely exposed, he is severely beaten and is bleeding on various parts of his body. The colors in this painting are very dark, accentuating the blood on his body and the red hood over his head. Conventional one-point perspective is abandoned in the paintings as the bars of the cells and the lines created by the floors intersecting the walls of the prison reveal separate and arbitrary vanishing points. When combined with the sickly, muted color palette, Botero does a very convincing job in creating an uncomfortable atmosphere for the viewer. There are three paintings total and the other two depict single men fully nude, and tied to the cell bars with blood red hoods over their heads. The triptych does not make it clear, however, whether the three figures depicted are different men at the same time, or the same man at three different times. Outraged by the treatment of the prisoners, Botero, much like Picasso, created this series to further immortalize the torturous events. Every painting in the series is a direct reflection of reports released from the prison in 2005. Although the series received a large amount of critical acclaim and fanfare, Botero initially had a difficult time getting the work shown in the United States. The first exhibit of this series was actually not held in a gallery, but in a library at the University of California Berkley with an attendance upwards of 15,000 viewers. Since, the series has