Fernando Botero Exhibition in Santiago

In the midst of busy, noisy Las Condes district, sits a colonial house turned into a cultural centre – Centro Cultural Las Condes – framed by a well-looked after peaceful garden dotted by two or three other smaller buildings constantly hosting various courses and seminars. Until the 30th of November 2014 this place will be the venue for an important art-exhibition in Santiago: Botero´s Viacrucis – A modern view of a Jesus Christ, who under the Colombian painter´s creed did not resurrect.

Fernando Botero recreated The Passion of Christ with his classic bloated figures, placing Jesus in a contemporary stage; on one piece, Jesus is being kissed by a Judas who wears a wrist watch, whilst on another he is being whipped not by a Roman soldier, but by an out-of-proportion round, modern policeman sporting a Nazi style moustache. Many other characters of the Viacrucis, and Botero himself, are also depicted and brought to life through smooth, inflated shapes and vibrant colours on 30×40 drawings as well as on large scale paintings.

This very exhibition has been successfully touring the globe; it has been showcased in Portugal, Panamá and New York, where was very well received by the critics and the general public. The 34 drawings are being displayed on the ground floor of Centro Cultural Las Condes, while the 29 oil paintings are on the first floor of the building. This is a series of works developed mainly between 2009 and 2011, once more bringing to society Botero´s opinion and ironic point of view about a sensitive topic, rooting his distinguishable style deeper and deeper in the soils of today´s art.

The exhibition is free of charge, although CLP1,000 or CLP500 donations are always welcomed by the Cultural Centre. The building is on Avenida Apoquindo, 6570 only a 10-minute straight walk from metro station Manquehue, and two blocks away from metro station Hernando de Magallanes (both on Linea 1 – the red metro grid line). The opening hours are from 10:30hr to 19:00hr, from Tuesday to Saturday. During the weekdays, particularly in the mornings, guests to the exhibition often find the whole collection of works all for themselves alone.

The viewing of the entire exhibition should not take more than 45 – 60 minutes, which gives visitors the chance to either have a refreshing frozen yogurt in Mall Apumanque, or a nice inexpensive meal at the grill restaurant Chilenazo, both just at the exit of Manquehue metro station.

To read more about Fernando Botero is official website is:
http://fernandobotero.com/

Article by:
Abigail Dantes