Fernando Botero is exhibiting his newest work at UC Berkeley in a week and a half. Botero, a Columbian artist, is best known for the figures he paints: big, fat, round, corpulent figures. In a nutshell, his art is the antithesis of El Greco’s.

The exhibit — featuring 47 paintings and drawings — focuses on the Iraq War, specifcally events at Abu Ghraib. The event opens Monday, January 29 at 6 p.m. in Room 190 in Doe Library. At 4 p.m. that same day, English Professor Robert Hass (U.S. Poet Laureate ‘95-’97) will conduct an interview with the artist in the Chevron Auditorium at I-House. More events will be held that week surrounding the opening of the exhibit, including a discussion on art and violence featuring T.J. Clark, chair of the Art History Department and the premier art historian of our time.

Botero is an exceptional painter, not only of Latin America but of the modern day. His work is politically-charged, often satirical, and fundamentally abstract. Correct me if I’m wrong, but he has not held an exhibit in the United States…ever. He’s a big name in art, and having his work here (and exhibited no less) is a huge coup for the university.

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