Fernando Botero Angulo (1932 - 2023) was a popular Colombian artist whose stature can only be compared to the writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Botero managed to create his own recognizable style - the people and animals in his paintings are very three-dimensional, as if they were all overweight. Perhaps this is the artist's response to the overpopulation of fast food, which makes a large part of the population, especially poor people, obese, which was not the case in Botero's youth.
Dancers
But he did not come to his style at once - in his youth he had artworks completely different, as if they were made by different artists. Fernando Botero was in creative search, and like the great Picasso, his work gradually changed and evolved. In many ways, this is an indicator of a truly creative person - it is much easier to write “like everyone else”, especially if you master the necessary technique, so you can stamp quite demanded paintings and earn money on such, in many ways purely artisanal work. But only a few go further, find something new in painting, even if it is not always familiar and pleasing to the eye.
Picnic
Having found his style, Fernando Botero decided to stick to it, his artwork over the last 20 years has been almost unchanged, but the themes of the paintings are very diverse. These are parodies of paintings of famous artists of the past, but not malicious and mocking - Fernando Botero has the wit and tact not to mock the works of the greats, but friendly and ironic, and irony more over modern art and stamped images of recognized masterpieces, because of which the view of creativity is washed out and dulls the acuity of perception.
Monaliza
Fernando Botero did not stay away from the negative phenomena of our life, he created a whole series of paintings dedicated to the abuse of prisoners in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and the wars between drug traffickers, as a result of which innocent people suffer.
Car bomb
Botero also managed to amazingly build a composition between the huge figures of people and free space in the paintings, as a result they do not look heavy and too naturalistic like Lucien Freud. He came to a similar style in the 1950s. However, according to the artist's statement, he does not paint full women, but three-dimensional, and it is the idea of volume that is the main thing in his paintings.
Rubens and his wife
Botero prefers bright colors and well-defined forms - echoes of traditional South American art. He is also a true fan of proper lighting - in his studios he pays very much attention to the light, according to the artist, it should always fall from the north.
Fernando was born in the second most important Colombian city of Medellin, very early - at the age of four, lost his father, dreamed of becoming a bullfighter and even studied at the school of matadors for several years. But then he wanted to be an artist and his decision held firmly, despite the resistance of conservative relatives. However, Botero loves bullfighting and wrote a whole series of paintings dedicated to it.
Corrida
Botero organized his first exhibition in 1952, but did not achieve serious material prosperity from its holding. He had to go to Madrid and earn money by copying Velasquez's paintings for tourists. But there was a great opportunity to get acquainted with the masterpieces of painting in the museums of Madrid and Paris.
Since 1958 Botero finally announced himself as an outstanding artist. His paintings were exhibited in exhibitions and museums, and he was given a professorship at the Bogotá Art Academy.
Botero married three times, all to slender and graceful girls. He never liked particularly obese women, and his female characters are more ironic than any fetish.
Writing
Botero was 91 years old, but he continues to work, and during the many hours of painting he does not even sit on a chair, but spends all the time on his feet. His work has made him rich and famous, he is one of the most wealthy contemporary artists, a living testament that dreams can become reality if you really want it and add a lot of talent and perseverance.
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