One of my favorite painters is showing some controversial pieces at the Marlborough Gallery here in New York.Fernando Botero, a Colombian painter known for his exaggerated, Ruben-esque paintings, is depicting the crimes at Abu-Gharib in a new collection that apparently is too outre for my city's museums.
Says New York Magazine:
"'Abu Ghraib was a shock to the whole world, and I was angry,” says Botero, who has dubbed the suite of works “my Guernica,” referring to the antiwar Picasso painting. The controversial exhibition, a hit in Rome and Germany, has brought the artist his best critical notices in years. So why is it opening at a blue-chip but somewhat blue-haired 57th Street gallery, especially as the works aren’t even for sale? Botero says the “Abu Ghraib” series is at Marlborough because museums won’t show it."
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I'm looking forward to the exhibit, even though it's an unnecessary rehashing of the events at Abu Gharib. I can see why the painter chose to select this particular incident as a platform for a statement against the war, I think there is more going on in Iraq that could be addressed by the painter's unique style to make a similarly impactful statement. For instance, how cool would portraits of a fat W or Saddam be, or even Osama?
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