Artist Botero's fat ladies make huge impression in Singapore
Fat naked ladies are all the rage these days in Singapore,
where the largest ever international exhibition of famed
Colombian artist Fernando Botero's works are on display
in all their corpulent glory.
The 72-year-old Botero, known for oversized sculptures
and paintings of ample-bodied figures, came to Singapore
last month to launch the massive show of over 70 paintings
and drawings and 36 sculptures spanning three decades.
It is all part of the Southeast Asian city-state's
lofty ambition to become a global art exhibition hub, and
follows major roadshows of
other well-known foreign and historical artists in Singapore.
The Botero paintings, which include Our Lady of
Colombia and the diptych The President
and The First Lady, as well as 14 smaller
sculptures, are currently housed at the Singapore Art
Museum.
Twenty-two of the monumental bronze sculptures for which
he is probably best known are on display at Changi Airport
and in outdoor locations around the glittering seaside
Esplanade arts center.
Tens of thousands of Singapore residents and foreign visitors
alike are expected to view his works by the time the exhibition
ends on February 27.
A lot of people are intrigued. Why does he keep painting
fat people? Singapore Art Museum curator Suenne
Megan Tan told AFP.
It was that very question that brought 32-year-old Singaporean
Derek Leong to the exhibition.
The industry analyst had never heard of Botero before,
but was attracted by the glimpses he got of Botero's
work in exhibition posters and advertisements.
It's an interesting subject matter -- you seldom
see full-bodied figures in art, Leong said.
Botero's work is not totally foreign to Singapore,
a largely ethnic Chinese society where many women think
they are overweight if they weigh more than 50 kilos (110
pounds), and slimming salons do a roaring trade.
The locally-based United Overseas Bank commissioned
his sculpture Bird, which has been sitting
since 1990 outside the bank's
headquarters along the Singapore River.
And Bird might soon be only one of a few Botero
sculptures dotting the Singaporean landscape permanently.
Ten of the 22 monumental sculptures are for sale, costing
between 700, 000 and 850, 000 US dollars each, and media
reports said local
buyers are interested in buying two of them.
The exhibition has also drawn a significant number of foreigners.
In fact, so many Latin Americans turned up at the launch
of the showcase that Botero joked that he had never seen
so many Colombians
in his life, curator Tan said.
The Latin American community was really overwhelmed
by his presence here, she said.
They queued to shake his hand and talk to him. To them,
he is 'The Maestro' -- that's what they call
him, 'The Maestro'.
But she was quick to add that the appeal of Botero's
art extends to a universal audience.
Lie Kam Lay, 50, is proof of that: the Indonesian came to
Singapore in December partly because he wanted to catch
the exhibition.
I knew of Fernando Botero, and I knew of this extensive
exhibition, so that was one of the reasons why I came here,
he said, pointing out
the oil on canvas painting Priest Walking
as his favourite, for the comical cross-eyed expression
on the subject's face.
The massive exhibition was made possible by the Singapore
government's pledge of more than 120 million US dollars
over the next five years to
the creative sector, in a bid to become global arts
city.
With a population of only four million but tourist arrivals
of eight million per year, strategically-located Singapore
has much potential as an international showcase, making
it an attractive venue for global artists eyeing Asia's
growing ranks of collectors.
The Botero show comes in the wake of similar exhibitions
of masterpieces from the Guggenheim Museum, Leonardo
Da Vinci's works and Rodin's sculptures in Singapore,
with more international shows in the pipeline.