World-renowned Colombian artist Fernando Botero turned 90 on April 19. Art of the World Gallery acknowledged the occasion with Celebrating 90 Years of Botero, a solo exhibition featuring his paintings, sculptures, and drawings.
The exhibit was scheduled to run through May 31. However, the gallery’s co-owners, Mauricio Vallejo and Liliana Molina, received appreciation from locals, art collectors, dealers, and visitors to extend the show. So, it now continues through June 30.
The fantastic solo exhibition features works of art from each decade of Botero’s career, including never-before-seen paintings created during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. With this exhibition, Vallejo and Molina present the Texas art community with the opportunity to view and purchase artwork from the most acclaimed living Latin American artist.
A notable piece in the show is La Calle (The Street), a four-panel polyptych – and the largest oil painting Botero has ever created – during the early 90s. Depicting a Latin American streetscape, this is one of many masterpieces that have never been sold, auction or viewed outside of private collection. The outstanding polyptych is for the first time up for grabs, gaining the interest of several international museums.
Nicknamed the “Master of Volume,” Botero’s signature style, “Boterismo,” represents people, landscapes, animals, and objects in exaggerated volumes. Often evoking political criticism, irony, or humor, Botero’s work has won numerous awards and is shown in streets and plazas worldwide, including his native Medellín, New York, Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, and Jerusalem, to name a few.
What: Opening reception for “Celebrating 90 Years of Botero”
Where: Art of the World Gallery, 2201 Westheimer Road, Houston, Texas
Notable Attendees: The crowd at the intimate opening reception included art collectors and enthusiasts and leading figures in design, medicine, philanthropy, and energy. Among those include Anne Barragan, Gary Stone, Irma Brindis, Claudia Stone, Craig King, Marion King, Dr. Jorge Salazar, MD and his wife, April Salazar, Daniel Samer, Lana Samer, Barbara and Jim Metcalf, Virginia and Harold Marx, Jorge Machnizh, Isabel Ceballos and Carlos Sanmiguel, Grant Rachel, Jose JT Torres, Anny Whyte, Mary Lou Swift, John Powell, and Lana Rigsby.
