A full life

The Botero: Heart of Volume exhibition at Immersive Media Based Arts Theatre (IMBA) at Gardens by the Bay displays close to 130 original paintings and sculptures and will run until May 18. It is lauded as the largest showcase of Botero artworks in the world, and is the first and only stop in Southeast Asia. Jointly presented by IMBA and the Fernando Botero Foundation as part of IMBA’s launch last month, it offers anyone with a modicum of interest in art the rare treat of getting up close and personal with the maestro’s body of work in classical as well as groundbreaking style.

A sensual immersion
In this age of digital art and technology, Boterismo has found new avenues for expression and innovation. At the centre of the exhibition is Life in Fullness, billed as the world’s first immersive experience devoted to the artist. Developed in collaboration with the Fernando Botero Foundation and narrated by the artist’s eldest child, Fernando Botero Zea, fondly referred to as Botero Jr, the 45-minute audiovisual installation provides an intimate portrait of the artist — from his humble beginnings in Colombia to his achieving international acclaim by the 1990s.

Botero’s fascination with volume arose from his study of Italian Renaissance masters, which taught him the importance of volume and space. To him, volume was the essence of beauty. He loved the exaggeration of proportions, as it also conveyed a sense of sensuality.

See also: Bridging connections

His preferred subjects included people, animals and everyday objects such as a bowl of fruit. He typically painted in series or themes such as bullfights, a circus and family life in Colombia, drawn from memories of his childhood.

Life in Fullness is more than an animated biography, unfolding like a personal letter and, most o, a tribute from son to father. Botero was famously loving, and his gift of a bright and stable childhood for all his children is well-documented. The immersive exhibition invites viewers to discover the life journey of not just a celebrated artist, but a loving father. This experience at the new IMBA Theatre will surely leave a lasting memory of the maestro for its audiences.

The heart of it
For a comprehensive look into Botero’s expansive body of artwork, visitors can then explore Heart of Volume, a gallery exhibition that features more than 100 paintings, drawings and indoor sculptures from the Botero family collection. Spanning his career of more than 70 years, it showcases the evolution of Boterismo and the influence of the Renaissance and modern masters, such as Picasso, on Botero’s distinctive style. For the Singapore audience, Heart of Volume offers a rare opportunity to encounter works previously shown in cities including Rome, Baku and Guangzhou.

See also: WINGS by Eunice Yeo offered for auction to support the Singapore Red Cross

Beyond the built space, Garden Grandeur extends Botero’s presence into the great outdoors with 10 monumental bronze sculptures installed at IMBA and throughout Gardens by the Bay. Botero firmly believed that art should belong to the public, experienced as part of everyday life.

Here, Botero’s outdoor sculptures are set within the dense greenery of the Silver Leaf Garden, transforming it into an open cultural commons where art, landscape and the city intersect. Get in line to take a selfie with the iconic Horse sculpture, which will undoubtedly be extremely popular as we enter the Year of the Horse.

Q+A with Botero
Fernando Botero Zea, co-president of the Fernando Botero Foundation and eldest son of Fernando Botero, was in Singapore to launch the exhibition Botero, presented by IMBA at Gardens by the Bay. Botero Zea sat down with The Edge Singapore to talk about his illustrious father and what he thinks of the new immersive experience that will debut at the IMBA Theatre to celebrate the legacy of one of the world’s most beloved artists.

The Edge Singapore: Your father’s artwork and sculptures are very much loved in Singapore, and, by extension, the Botero family is also loved and warmly welcomed in Singapore. In 2004, your father held an exhibition here at the Singapore Art Museum. Do you remember what his impression was of Singapore?

Botero Zea: I remember that when I met him in Paris, perhaps after his visit here, he was talking about Singapore endlessly, saying what an amazing and fantastic country it was, how much the public loved his work, how many collectors there were, and how amazing Singapore was as an economic miracle. He had a very, very great appreciation for what Singapore is, and I think that explains a bit why there are so many collectors of Botero here. It is a two-way street: My father loved Singapore and Singapore loves my father.

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Was he surprised at how popular he was in Singapore?
He was very surprised because he had never expected to see the level of development, sophistication, the importance, the foresight of this country, and I remember him going on and on about how marvellous Singapore was and how much he loved the experience of being here.

The world continues to be fascinated by ‘Boterismo’, or the Botero style. Can you describe what Boterismo is in your words?
My father developed a unique style; some people call it Boterismo. The style is based on the exaggeration of volume, and what’s important about the size of this style is that it’s easily recognisable. You see it from a mile away. You know what it is, and it’s extremely difficult in art to have a style that you recognise immediately. It is a contribution to the history of art. And that’s the greatest legacy he leaves.

What do you think makes it so appealing to everyone?
It’s truly fascinating because this is an artist from the 1930s and from a small town in Colombia who basically painted the memories of his childhood. Yet, it is done in a language so sublime, so powerful and so universal that it creates love and appreciation in Singapore, on the other side of the globe. It’s the universality of his language that explains the appeal of his artwork.

'My father never asked me how I did in school. He was not at all concerned about whether I had good grades," says Botero / Photo: Albert Chua

I am reminded of a quote from your father: ‘For art to be universal, it has to be local first.’ Can you expand on what he meant?
Yes, my father always observed the great masterpieces of the history of art, and they were always local themes, in Chinese art,

Taking you back to the early years, what was it like having the maestro as your father when you were growing up?
It was fascinating because my father never asked me how I did in school. He was not at all concerned about whether I had good grades.

That’s quite different from parents in Singapore! (laughs)
Yes. A little bit different. Not at all interested in grades, but obsessed with culture. He would ask me, ‘What did you do today to increase your culture?’, ‘What did you read today?’, ‘What movies have you seen?’, ‘What music are you listening to?’, ‘What exhibition have you visited?’, ‘What museum have you gone to?’

So, from a young age, you were greatly exposed to movies.
Well, not just any movie. He wanted us to watch cinema of quality — a film by

Photo: Albert Chua

I read that your father was obsessed with quality.
Yes, quality was very important to him. And he did many, many paintings. He would keep them in his studio and, every one or two years, he would see which ones were not good [quality] and burn them. Yes, burn them. Because he always said that nothing [of low quality] would come out from his studio. He had his own form of quality control.

That’s one tough form of quality control.
He would burn many. And one day I asked him, ‘Are you concerned about what critics say of you?’ He said, ‘No, because the greatest critic of my work is me.’

Did you have a very close relationship with your father? What memories could you share with us?
Yes. We were very close. We spent many, many vacations together, all over the world. When my father was 37 or 38, he purchased a house in an Italian town called Pietrasanta, and we spent about 40 years going there every summer. It was like a summer home. All the family would spend the month of July with him in Pietrasanta. We did so many trips together, many vacations we spent together, and, yes, I have very fond memories of my time with him.

Your father found great joy in painting, and spent many hours in the studio from morning to night. Did you spend time with him at all in the studios? Did he invite you in?
Well, he would invite us perhaps to have a drink at the end of the day or something like that before going to dinner, but he never liked to work with someone in the studio. He worked completely alone. No music, nothing — 100% focused on what he was creating, and he said he derived immense pleasure from creation and that he could not think of anything more pleasurable in life than to be in his studio creating artwork.

Are there any little secret paintings you have that you painted with him?
Unfortunately, when I was four or five, my father discovered that I had no talent [in painting]. Thank God, my brother, my sister, each one of us has had his/her own career and life. But, yes, my father did try it, a test drive. But only one test drive. That’s it (laughs).

When you were younger, your father would take you to museums and ask you to explain why certain paintings were ‘great’.

Yes, that’s correct. My father felt that 99% of people did not know how to appreciate a visit to the museum. They would move about, room to room, and see so many paintings that after a while, they would be in a haze.

My father would take us to a museum to see one painting, just one. And we would be in front of that painting for a long time, say, 15 minutes to half an hour, and he would ask us, ‘Why are the other paintings a good painting, but this one a masterpiece?’ and ‘Why do you think it’s a masterpiece?’

And then we would say, because of this and that, and he would explain why that painting was considered a masterpiece. And that taught us a lot about how to appreciate art and understand how to separate the good from the excellent. The good from the extraordinary.

And that is how you became an art collector.
Yes, I am an art collector. That’s my passion. I do the best I can with the resources I have at my disposal. One of the great pleasures in my life is to be surrounded by art.

Well, I collect Botero, of course. And I try to have artists that my father admired or was influenced by. So, artists like [Pablo] Picasso, [Francis] Bacon, Andy Warhol... artists that he looked up to and with whom he had some type of relationship or influence are the ones I’ve tried to collect over time.
You always need to collect with an idea in mind. My idea is Botero and the artists of the 20th century who had an impact or influence on my father. That’s my own modest collection.

Do you have any advice for an aspiring art collector?
The most important thing a young art collector or young artist can do is to study the history of art, the different movements, the artists themselves and try to understand how art evolved over time.

And I always remember a phrase that my father said to me when I was fairly young. I said to him one day, ‘I would love to buy art and collect art, but I don’t have any money.’ He said, ‘Why don’t you start with lithographs? Because it’s much better to have a good lithograph than a bad painting.’

That phrase impacted me profoundly. So, I started collecting lithographs. A piece by Francis Bacon might cost US$30 million ($37.8 million) to even US$100 million. I can’t afford that. But I can have a magnificent lithograph by Bacon for perhaps US$100,000.

My advice to a young collector is to start with great lithographs. And think of a theme. Some people say, ‘My theme would be Singaporean art, or African art, or Old Master drawings.’ Fantastic. Just have a theme in mind when you start collecting.

I imagine that it can be hard to decide on a theme.
In a way, it’s hard and also not so hard. It’s always from the heart. You can see many types of art and admire them. But, for me, there’s always some part of art that I’m passionate about. And that’s my theme.

So, when it hits you, then you know… like love!
Exactly. Like the first time you see the woman you love. That’s it.

Your father’s work will open the new IMBA Theatre in Gardens by the Bay on Feb 13. What are your thoughts on this new immersive theatre experience, and what impact do you hope it will have on your audiences?
My father always believed in a saying in Colombia: ‘If the mountain will not come to Muhammad, then Muhammad will go to the mountain.’

My father had the belief that if the public does not go to art, then art should go to the public. He believed very strongly in making it easy, that art should belong to the public. That’s why he loved exhibitions of monumental sculptures in public places — so that people could touch the sculpture, be with the sculpture in everyday life. For the new generation, the challenge is to make it easy for young children and adolescents to have a relationship with art. And one possibility is through an immersive experience, where it’s a digital experience. They see the art and hear the music, and it makes it easier for them to approach the artwork.

Photo: Albert Chua

Were you surprised by this new immersive experience when it was presented to you?
Yes, I was very much favourably surprised. The talent that did this immersive show is from Singapore and Southeast Asia. We could have brought in talent from Europe or America, but we chose to use Southeast Asian and Singaporean talent and they made it fantastic. It’s a great experience.

It’s clear that ‘Boterismo’ will continue to enchant and excite audiences worldwide. What are your plans moving forward?
That is our challenge. The idea, as my father said to us before he died, that what he wanted when he was no longer with us, is for us to do exhibitions, exhibitions and more exhibitions.

Torino and, now, Singapore. After Singapore will be Seoul, then Taiwan. And after that, we have invitations from Belgium, the UAE, Europe and the US. We expect that the art of Maestro Botero will be travelling the world for many, many years to come.

I can imagine the logistics must be complicated.
Yes, it’s a huge challenge to put up a great exhibition. You have to do many things; find and prepare the venue, set up the artworks, do a lot of research to find the best way to curate the exhibition on a local basis, and promote it. But it’s a joy. Sharing my father’s work with the public is a great satisfaction for me.

Finally, what would you like to say to our readers in Singapore? And do you have any advice on what you think is the best way to experience Maestro Botero’s artwork in this exhibition?
I want to take this opportunity to invite the public in Singapore, Southeast Asia and around the world who come to Singapore to visit the exhibition that has three distinct dimensions. The exhibition of the artwork should be the starting point, and then the immersive experience. Because you see the artwork first, and you won’t understand why or how he did it. And then, the immersive experience shows and explains how he did it. Then, on your way out, visit the beautiful Gardens by the Bay. You’ll have a unique experience of communion with art and one of the great masters of the 20th and 21st centuries, who was as proud as anyone can be to be exhibiting in Singapore.