Fernando Botero – Abu Ghraib

This is the first U.S. exhibition of Botero’s recent paintings documenting his reaction to news accounts and images made at U.S. military prison in Abu Ghraib, Iraq. There are two ways to go with this and I’ll try to break this into two pieces, one about the paintings, the other about the politics. To me this exhibition forces me to re-examine the overall approach of Botero’s art output in general. Botero, if you are not familiar with his work, has historically painted images of rotund, complacent and usually very wealthy people. Let’s hold on to that thought for just a moment.

The Paintings
Showing the whole suite of artworks developed over a period of barely over a year Botero has moved quickly and decisively to develop an approach that fits stylistically into his oeuvre. These paintings are much thinner and painted in a much faster manner – they are in a way “samizdat” but paintings as opposed to printing(s). The approach of these images work for this suite of artworks – for this review, I’m going to suspend the “Painting is about “how” not “what” approach that I firmly believe in, because, the how of these images is secondary to the overall theme and message of the artworks. That said, the painting approach is perfunctory at best, but highly descriptive. In other words, the painting is just enough to tell the story. You will never be in love with the paint handling of these images, nor should you.

The Politics
The politics of torture are to most, not complex. Ask almost anyone and they will tell you that torture is morally wrong and they are opposed to it. I really believe that this is true only in abstraction. When torture enters our reality, the simplicity becomes complex. War is the great differentiator that changes the use of torture. I’m sure that there are a number of people that have no problem with the actions of the U.S. military in this situation. I do. I am appalled that this kind of image; forced humiliation and feminization, body piling and forced sexual experience, sodomization, urination as well as attack dogs are the legacy of our country’s current real-politic on the world stage. This – to borrow from Tom Wolf – is the “wrong stuff”.

There is another kind of politic at work here as well; the personal politics of a single voice. I’ve read before that to many, art is the expression of an individual that may or may not be in step with the personal desires of the population. I never really thought that I needed to see these paintings before I knew of their existence – however after learning about them over a year ago, I have been most interested in seeing them. Botero’s personal feelings come through loud and clear. That reflection of the personal politic is one of the few ways art can become a powerful moving force in our political culture.

I’m curious about the implications that these acts of torture by a “civilized country” such as ours will bring to us as a nation in the future.

The Approach of Botero’s Artworks
I asked you to hold on to the knowledge that Botero has historically painted images of rotund, complacent and usually very wealthy people. I am now forced to re-evaluate those images as not the light hyper-real satire that they seem to be, but possibly a much darker version of ourselves where our worst actions manifest themselves physically and place our true core of humanity on display for everyone to understand.

Fernando Botero – Abu Ghraib, is on display at the Katzen Art Center at American University through December.