Artists

Fernando Botero was born in Medellín, Colombia in 1932. After relocating to Bogotá in 1952, he had his first individual exhibition at the Leo Matíz Gallery. Botero then studied painting at the Academia San Fernando in Madrid before moving to New York City. It was here that he developed a form of figurative painting inspired by the European masters combined with the traditions of Latin America.

His very recognizable and iconographic style is characteristic by the exaggerated proportions and the corpulence of his human and animal figures. Thematically his sculptures and painting encompass a wide variety of subject matter; including political, social and religious allusions. In 1992, Botero was honored with a public showing of his sculptures along the Avenue Champs Elyseés in Paris, making him the first non-French artist to exhibit there.

This outdoor exhibition later traveled to New York, Chicago, Buenos Aires, and Singapore. Botero most recently exhibited a series that graphically represent the Abu Ghraib torture prisioner abuse scandal.