Resumen de Representing suffering: "El dolor de Colombia en los ojos de Botero"
"El dolor de Colombia en los ojos de Botero" is a departure thematically and philosophically for Fernando Botero in many ways because the artist frankly depicts the multi-faceted violence that rages in his country. The fifty works, oil paintings and drawings completed by the Medellín native between 1999 and 2004, were on display in the summer of 2006 at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Currently several of the same pieces are among those touring North America through 2010 as part of the retrospective, The Baroque World of Fernando Botero. For a complete listing of exhibition dates and locations see Arts Services International's site: http://www.artservicesintl.org. This paper will explore the complications inherent in representing the suffering found in these pieces as well as the uniquely Latin-American style the artist has developed to address the difficult aesthetic issues associated with violence. Starting from the theories of Elaine Scarry (1985), the essay will look at the primary metaphors used to portray human pain and affliction: the agent/weapon of the pain and the wound or bodily damage. It will also detail the ways in which Botero manipulates these archetypal rhetorical devices, in conjunction with his iconic "gordos", to achieve a hyperbole that matches the exaggerated reality of the violence in Colombia.
