Lush sensuality in bronze in the Berlin Lustgarten
Against the magnificent backdrop of Berlin's Lustgarten, the Colombian Embassy, under the patronage of the City of Berlin and supported by Galerie Thomas in Munich and Allianz Versicherung, will present an impressive selection of monumental bronze sculptures by the most successful Colombian artist of the present day, Fernando Botero, from September 25, 2007 to November 25, 2007.
15 of the works of art weighing several tons are located in the Lustgarten, and another one, named "Horse 06", will find its place in front of the Brandenburg Gate at the express wish of Fernando Botero. For Botero, the horse is synonymous with movement and new beginnings and is therefore placed at this location, which reflects the eventful history of Berlin and the Federal Republic like no other. In Botero's sense, his huge, lush and calmly standing horse contrasts with the spirited expression of the bronze sculpture on the roof of the Brandenburg Gate, the Quadriga.
Fernando Botero is considered the most important and prominent representative of contemporary Latin American art and has already caused a sensation with his sculptures in Paris, New York and Lisbon, among other places. Already in the 50s he found his own, today world-famous style - at that time still exclusively in his paintings. His works of art live from the tension that is built up by the contrast between the opulence of the human figure and the simultaneous reduction of details. After his first sculptural works in the early 1960s, Botero has been devoting himself more and more to sculpture since the mid-1970s, and here too the sensual forms and the handling of volume are found in technical perfection.
Fernando Botero himself says that his sculptures have no symbolic meaning whatsoever, as his interest lies in form, in the soft round surfaces that emphasize the sensuality of his work. "I like enormous size, it is the fulfilment of my longing for expansive round forms". Botero, who is revered like a folk hero in his Colombian homeland, believes that "fat people are closer to eternity through their sensuality and monumentality". The Munich Galerie Thomas, which represents Botero's works, confirms that the opulence of his figures invites touching. "No other works of art in the world are touched as often as Botero's bronze sculptures, and there are collectors who can only part with their Botero exhibits for a short time because touching them gives them the same power and tranquility."
The exhibition will be opened on September 25th at an open air vernissage in the presence of Fernando Botero, the Colombian ambassador Dr. Victoriana Mejía-Marulanda and the governing mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit (inquired). The interested public can view the sculptures around the clock and free of charge until November 25, 2007.
