Abu Ghraib Horrors by Botero

Came across the chilling works of Colombian artist Fernando Botero last night. A friend at Berkeley University forwarded me this link that led me to the moving images of the recent paintings by Botero called Abu-Ghraib

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Botero, 73, is the modern master of Latin American art. His cheerful magical-realist paintings are well-acclaimed in the West and feature in major museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

In the recent years, his works are turning into pieces of neo-real social and political resistance. He has painted some of the horrors that have taken taken place in his native Colombia and most recently 50 huge “Abu Ghraib” series.

The artist has been driven by the passion to shake up the collective conscience in our times. In some ways his works are a sequel to Picasso’s Guernica painted as an expression of outrage  during the Spanish Civil War.

My friend wrote these ascerbic lines:

“Evidently, aside from Berkeley, only one other place in this entire country expressed any interest in holding this exhibition. You have to see these paintings in person to really appreciate them. They ought to hang some of these in the White House.”