Until 6th July, El Institut Valencià d'Art Modern (IVAM) will be exhibiting two recent series by the Colombian artist Fernando Botero. The exhibition will consist of 95 works from the Circus and Abu Ghraib collections.
Circus is a result of Botero's interest in the world of the circus, something that has inspired such other artists as Calder, Picasso, Leger and Chagall. The artist portrays traditional circus characters with the monumental physiognomy that characterises his style.
His style was marked by the leading Colombian intellectuals of the early 1950s. He presented his first two exhibitions in 1951 and received the first prize at the 9th Colombian Artists Salon, which that financed a trip to Europe. After visiting Barcelona, he settled in Madrid and visited the Prado Museum, where the works of Goya and Velazquez had a profound impact on him. Botero moved to Mexico in 1956 and held his first exhibition in New York a year later, which marked the start of his succcess.
During his long and prolific career, Botero has never stopped creating and has exhibited his works in the world's leading museums. The National Museum of Colombia, the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid and the Vienna Modern Art Museum all possess collections of his work.
The second series making up the exhibition is entitled Abu Ghraib, where Botero emphasises the anonymity of the victims and highlights a sense of barbarity with figures that reflect the tortures carried out in the Iraqi prison
