Botero - his paintings in Vienna

I first encountered Botero's sculptures when in Madrid in the early 1990's - they are not easily forgotten - exaggeratedly fat, in strange proportions and conveying simple still life combinations - I remember children climbing over these giant people and horses and people taking photos (myself included) from different angles. At the time, I did not know much about Fernando Botero, a Colombian artist, with an international reputation, now living in Paris.

So I was keen to see an exhibition of over 70 paintings in the Bank Austria Kunstforum in Vienna. I was confronted by expressionless fat, contorted people; massive heads and faces, gaint legs with perfectly circular defined patellas and pathetic stumpy arms. I was so surprised to see that he was of a fairly normal physique!
It was almost like a personal diary - growing up in Colombia, training as a matador, enjoying good food and the outdoor lifestyle... a few cracks emerged when we saw the widow and her young children - and then we were confronted by a whole room of his Abu-Ghraib-Cycle from 2004/5 - where he expressed his horror in a deeply universal manner - this man has a message and he can be heard. Is this the modern day Guernica?

Again, I am moved by the message behind the art...