04/22/2005

The Art of Abu Ghraib

Fernando Botero Tackles US Abuses in New Work

Columbian Painter Fernando Botero has become one of the first artists to use the horrors of Abu Ghraib as inspiration for his work. In a series of 50 oil paintings and sketches, which is to be exhibited in Rome on June 16, Botero graphically depicts the prisoner abuses at the Iraqi prison.

Fernando Botero: "I was shocked by the barbarity."

Beatings, torture and humiliation are not exactly a pleasant subject matter. But painter Fernando Botero sees them as vitally important. Generally known for chubby versions of Old Masters, the 73-year-old artist was so shocked by the prisoner abuse scandals that he started work on a series of pictures to depict the humiliations which Iraqi prisoners suffered at the hands of American soldiers. "I, like everyone else, was shocked by the barbarity, especially because the United States is supposed to be this model of compassion," he recently told the Associated Press.

The paintings are named simply "Abu Ghraib", followed by a number between one and 50. They feature the same puffy characters, typical of Botero's work, but this time as hooded, naked Iraqi detainees being beaten or piled up on top of each other. The shocking scenes seem familiar from photographs of the abuses which have appeared in every newspaper, but the impact of what is actually happening is heightened by transferring the images into a different medium.

Botero has used the now infamous photos, as well as written descriptions of the abuse, as sources for his work. He says that his aim is to burn the images onto the world's consciousness in the same way that Pablo Picasso's "Guernica" did for the Spanish Civil War. The exhibition is due to appear next in Germany. Botera is also hoping to exhibit the series in the United States at some point in the future.

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