By ARIEL OLSON-SUROWIDJOJO
Observer Staff
Nov. 8, 2007

Photo slideshow by Ariel Olson-Surowidjojo

The controversial work of renowned Colombian artist and sculptor Fernando Botero, debuted, Tuesday, at the Katzen Art Center at American University. The exhibit, which will be displayed through Dec. 30, features more than 70 drawings and paintings depicting the horrors of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. It is the first time the complete series has been shown in the United States.

David Cronin, who recently moved to Washington from Wisconsin, said he first saw the Abu Ghraib exhibit in Colombia about a year ago and was glad to see it finally debut, in full, in the United States.

“I think it’s important for the people to see the images,” Cronin said. “Even if it’s just one person’s reaction to the events that happened there, it lends accountability. It’s very moving.”

Clad in a pea green dress coat, a blue and white striped shirt and black, thick-framed glasses, Botero addressed a packed auditorium during a question and answer session held Tuesday afternoon. During the discussion, he challenged American artists for not making “stronger statements” about Abu Ghraib. But he also expressed cynicism about art’s ability to affect social change.

“Art never change[s] anything,” Botero said.

The audience responded with laughter—for Botero is well known for his “satirical” depictions of violence, poverty and drug trafficking in Colombian society.

“No, it’s true. Art never change[s] anything,” he repeated. “Art has the capacity of reminding people of something.”

Botero’s work ranges in size and medium, from small charcoal sketches and watercolors to gigantic oil paintings stretching up to 7.5 feet across. They portray the severest forms of torture and abuse suffered by the Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib, but in a distinctly “Botero” style.

Like his earlier paintings and sculptures, the human forms in his Abu Ghraib series are exaggeratedly round and masculine. The colors are also bright and vibrant, emphasizing blood bursting from a fresh wound, or urine cascading down a prisoner’s back. Many of the paintings depict the various methods of sexual abuse used to humiliate the Iraqi detainees; including forced nudity, cross-dressing, the performance of gay sex acts and sodomy.

“What we’re looking at is pornography,” said visitor Barbara Goldberg, “and the relationship between pornography and torture.”

Goldberg, who received a master’s of fine arts degree from American University “some years back,” also noted that the guards in Botero’s paintings always appear wearing rubber gloves, “as if to sanitize themselves” of the atrocities they’re committing.

Molly Bloom and Nicole Abila who attended the exhibit’s formal reception Tuesday evening, said they plan to return to the museum when it’s quieter to spend more time reflecting on the paintings.

“It’s kind of overload,” said Bloom. “I think when you see that much violence…your eyes start to glaze over a little bit…, which isn’t necessarily the reaction I want—you know, you want to sort of personally respond.”

Botero, who is now based in Paris, said he began “visualizing” the Abu Ghraib series in 2005, after reading and becoming enraged by reports of the prison abuses. He said he hopes the series, which was completed around September 2006, will be widely viewed and will help prevent similar atrocities from reoccurring in the future.

“It was something I felt I [had] to do. It [is] something that I hope will be saved,” Botero said. “This will be a reminder of a situation that was not acceptable.”

American University student Claudia Soto, who is from Mexico, said she thought Botero’s paintings were “very powerful” and she was glad that the Latin American artist was being recognized in the United States.

“Sometimes we have a very short memory,” Soto said. “I think we need that kind of reminder.”

Botero’s Abu Ghraib exhibit is part of the museum’s “Art of CONFRONTation: Exploring Human Rights through Art” series, co-presented by American University’s College of Arts & Sciences, Schools of International Service, Public Affairs, Communications, Kogod School of Business, and the Washington College of Law.

Colombian artist Fernando Botero at an open forum about his Abu Ghraib series
of paintings on display at the Katzen Art Center through Dec. 30.
Photo by Ariel Olson-Surowidjojo