The largest exhibit ever assembled of Colombian artist Fernando Botero will open Friday at the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City, reported El Espectador.
The exhibit commemorates over 60 years of Botero’s work and will feature 177 of his paintings, drawings, sculptures, and mixed media pieces, curated by the artist’s daughter Lena Botero.
“For me it is pleasure to be here in Mexico in an exhibition organized by my daughter, which is also the largest I’ve ever done with 180 works,” said Botero.
The artist from Medellin reflected joyfully on the retrospective of his work. “I am very satisfied because I had the good fortune to live painting and that the source of my pleasure in life was my job,” said the artist.
Botero’s work is easily recognizable for his disproportionate and voluptuous depictions of the human body which some observers have simply called fat.
Although the artist will be 80 years old next month, he says he still has many years of work left in him. “In painting there is no end and you never stop learning,” said Botero.
The exhibit will also feature a new biography entitled “Botero: A Celebration” which contains five stories written by Botero when he was bedridden with the flu, as well as essays by Mario Vargas Llosa, Carlos Fuentes, Jaime Moreno Villarreal, Juan Gustavo Cobo Borda and Lina Botero.
An inaugural ceremony will be held Thursday and attended by Mexican President Felipe Calderon, and the exhibit will open to the public Friday.