Ornella Muti Among Botero's Plump Ladies

Photo reportage: His inflated figures represent decadence and abundance. In Zurich, Colombian artist Fernando Botero opened an exhibition – in a luxury gallery with Ornella Muti among the guests. http://www.bernerzeitung.ch/kultur/kunst/Ornella-Muti-unter-Boteros-prallen-Damen/story/19915698 Since 1956, Fernando Botero has painted almost exclusively voluminous people. His role models include old masters who captured well-fed aristocrats in their sumptuous paintings. Botero goes one step further: the bodies are rounder, the faces more expressionless, the skin mostly kept in a kitschy pink, there are hardly any shadows, and the spaces seem far too small in relation to the bodies. Botero, 76, is now a global star, the plump figures are his trademark, and each of his paintings costs several hundred thousand francs. The exhibition in Zurich takes place at Galerie Gmurzynska on Paradeplatz, which like no other symbolises the excess in the art business of recent years. The gallery moved its headquarters from Cologne to low-tax Zug; the Zurich branch is situated opposite the headquarters of the two major banks in a prime location, and another branch can be found in St. Moritz. Parade of Ageing Beauties The preview is a parade of ageing beauties who are more interested in the camera lenses of the tabloid press than in art. There is gallery owner Krystyna Gmurzynska, actress Ornella Muti, commodities trader Marc Rich, and many other face-lifted ladies and elegantly dressed gentlemen whom one should apparently know. Botero poses with everyone, smiling amiably – such events seem nothing out of the ordinary for him. Oh yes, there are also the paintings. In Zurich, he primarily presents his new circus series. Most of them neatly kept in living room-friendly sizes, harmless in their motifs. Only a few years ago, Botero caused a stir when he painted torture scenes from Abu Ghraib in protest against the actions of the Americans in Iraq – with plenty of plump torturers and victims. Some drawings from the series are on display on the upper floor. His new circus paintings, on the other hand, contain hardly any message. The task they have to fulfil lies somewhere between decoration, status symbol and investment object. (Bernerzeitung.ch/Newsnet) Created: 03.10.2008, 12:56