other blog » “Art is a permanent accusation”

“Art is a permanent accusation”

Filed under: Uncategorized — charlieanders @ 11:52 am

I may be the last person on the planet not to know that Fernando Botero has been painting pictures based on the Abu Ghraib atrocities. The Washington Post article on the subject is really really weird. For one thing, there’s no illustration of the paintings in question, except for an extreme closeup of one hand. (For some actual examples of the paintings in question, go here.) The actual tone of the article is incredibly snotty (and fat-phobic.) The author obviously doesn’t think much of Botero’s work, which he says depicts “slightly ridiculous figures.” Then we get to the supposed moral dilemma:

Is Botero just playing Abu Ghraib dress-up with his Botero People? And isn’t there something opportunistic, or at least insensitive, in that? Throughout the trauma of public exposure that made Abu Ghraib synonymous with American hypocrisy around the world, the government (and often newspapers) argued that it is humiliating to the victims to spread these images. Is it a further humiliation to Botero-ize them?

Leaving aside the question of whether the victims of Abu Ghraib, will ever see these paintings, I’m not sure I get Kennicott’s point here. Maybe because I’ve never thought Botero’s figures were ridiculous, although his work has struck me as a little too cute sometimes. But how does Botero-izing these prisoners further humiliate them? He’s just painting them in the style that he paints people in, after all.

It’s pretty clear that Botero intends these graphic depictions of waterboarding, golden showers, sodomy and other physical abuse to be shocking. I found them incredibly disturbing, not least because of the contrast between his usual happy style and the acts he’s depicting. It sort of reminds me of the infamous Smurf village bombing ad. I’ve gotten numb to the actual images from Abu Ghraib, in part because I’ve never seen depictions of some of the worst acts that Botero paints. (He worked from written descriptions, not photographs, he says.)

I don’t just think that artists should be allowed to deal with things like the Abu Ghraib atrocities, I think it’s the artist’s duty. The Post article comes down on this side of things too, somewhat condescendingly comparing Botero’s work to folk art:

In the Abu Ghraib works, however, Botero is more closely in communion with folk-art traditions. He mentions Goya, the chronicler of French atrocities in Spain, and there’s a resemblance. But his Abu Ghraib series feels more like a catalogue of dark memories, a compendium of outrages captured in a long-established people’s vernacular, as a hedge against obfuscation and oblivion. These illustrations form a kind of history book, not one written by the victors but one sketched and colored by the meek of the earth, hidden away until the tables are turned and the truth can come out.

“Art is a permanent accusation,” he says.

Comments (20)

suzanne says:

October 14, 2006 at 9:41 pm

It reminds me also of Picasso’s “Guernica” or even Art Spiegelman’s “Maus”, in that cartoony stylized drawings of atrocities turn out to be deeply moving and affecting. Even more affecting, maybe, because of the simplified way the figures are drawn allows us to imagine ourselves in their place. I feel the same way about the Botero paintings. Somehow it hits you more in the gut, like Abu Ghraib as filtered through memory. A drawing of how the victims must have felt, instead of a record of exactly what happened.

I don’t think it’s condescending to compare his work to “folk art” unless folk art is automatically assumed to be “less”. I didn’t find that quoted paragraph to be condescending at all ( i can’t speak for the whole article, I haven’t read it), I thought it was quite lovely. “Folk art” is, after all, how memories are preserved by supposedly “unimportant” groups of people. What better way to depict this specific atrocity than that?
Good for Fernando Botero.

charlieanders says:

October 15, 2006 at 2:35 pm

Yeah, I guess you’d have to read the rest of the article. I do really like that last paragraph, and it’s not true to say that it’s condescending on its own. It’s only after all the stuff making fun of Botero for painting fat people that it seems a tad condescending. But I might also have been a little too harsh on the writer guy.

Richard says:

January 22, 2007 at 6:19 pm

What disturbs me is this:Where are his outraged art works based on 9/11? Where are his outraged art works based on video taped beheadings of people kidnapped by islamic terrorists? Where are his outraged art works based on on the Thais in southern Thailand, and other non-muslims all over the world, being murdered by Muslims all over the world? Where are his outraged art works based on women murdered because they dishonored their families by being raped? Where are his outraged art works based on the stoning of people for “crimes” that are not considered capital crimes anywhere in the world except for Muslim countries?

Nowhere! Just more America-bashing. Not that I defend what happened at Abu Gharib, but we need so perspective. The atrocities committed by islamic terrorists (6000 terrorist attacks by islamist since 9/11/2001) are always America’s fault I guess. Maybe he is afraid that if he criticizes the savage barbarism of muslim terrorists he will be murdered too. Not an unreasonable fear, but let’s keep America out of it.

January 22, 2007 at 7:19 pm

Hi Richard. I guess, putting myself into Botero’s shoes for a sec, he probably thinks: which atrocities do people who visit art galleries have the most control over? Are art patrons in the U.S. likely to be able to do anything to stop Muslim violence? I know there are plenty of Muslim art lovers, but are they likely to have tons of influence over the terrorists?

other blog » See the Botero paintings for yourself! says:

January 29, 2007 at 10:17 am

[...] I blogged a few months ago about Fernando Botero’s heart-rending paintings of the Abu Ghraib atrocities. If you’re in the Bay area, you can see them for yourself, and even meet the artist. Botero will be giving a talk at 4 PM this afternoon (sorry this is so last-minute, I just heard about this) and then opening an exhibit of his Abu Ghraib paintings at UC Berkeley at 6 PM this evening. The good news is the paintings will be on display until March 23, so you can still see them if you miss today’s events. Details here. [...]