INTERVIEW WITH BOTERO I

Fernando Botero, one of the most sought after Latin American artists today, was in Singapore last week for the opening of his first South-East Asian exhibition, When he stopped over briefly in Kuala Lumpur, he spoke with veteran local artist DR JOLLY KOH.

At first, my egalitarian nature made me feel uncomfortable about having to address Fernando Botero as maestro as everybody does. But after I spent an hour talking to him, I had no qualms in doing so.

The maestro’s conversation injected a breath of fresh air that has long been missing from local art discourse. The substance and depth of Botero’s thoughts were impressive. I found him knowledgeable, lucid and very articulate.

The nuances of Botero’s verbal expressions are difficult to capture with precision. And his inimitable Latin accent makes his talk all the more exotic. Furthermore, because some of his answers were abbreviated due to the context of our talk, I have chosen to comment on some

of his views. My comments are in italicised parenthesis.

Thank you for giving us your time. I want to use this great opportunity to milk your artistic wisdom for our art world here.

Well, you know, the best artistic wisdom that I have can be seen in my exhibition in Singapore. There you will see something different, how I went my own way against the official line of art and against the fashion of the times. And, you know, it was difficult for a very long time, but I am glad I did that because now you can see a very different world.

(Here we see the young artist as a rebel, the artist asserting himself as independent and as an individual. But we shall also see the artist later as a traditionalist when he tells us how he spent years copying the old Masters. He once said, "Everybody at the academy - where he was studying - was trying to develop his own style, but all I wanted to learn was technique".)

How did you arrive at those sumptuous figures?

It started very early from my first watercolour in Colombia when I was painting figures in the market place – and somehow those figures came out voluminous.

Another major influence was when I went to Europe at an early age of 19 to study, especially when I was in Florence when I studied the art of Giotto, Massachio and all the other Italian Masters, I was fascinated by their sense of volume and monumentality.

I spent many years copying the Old Masters. Of course, in modern art everything is exaggerated – so my voluminous figures also because exaggerated.

(Here is an example of what happens when an artist has the opportunity to study masterpieces at first hand early in his career – an opportunity most young Malaysian artists do not have. Thus, the chance to see the works of a major 20th century artist such as Botero in Singapore should not be missed.)

There are some art writers here who believe that art should be socially relevant and should even affect social change. What is your view on this?

There are two positions, you know. First of all, especially in the 1930s, there were these Marxist artists who believed that their works could change the world. Of course, they were naïve you know, because art does not have that kind of power, that is, the power to change social or political values.

But art as a testimony of its time is justified. We think of Goya and Picasso. But, you know, Picasso’s Guernica did nothing because Franco still continued for 25 or 30 years after Guernnica and the painting did not change the political situation. But as a historical document people will remember that bombardment.

(Guenica is a Spanish town in which more than 1,000 people were killed when it was bombed in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War; rebel general, Francisco Franco, successfully fought the Republican government and installed a fascist government that ruled Spain for almost 40 years.)

Now I tell you this: I have also painted the atrocities in my country and I gave 50 of these paintings to the national museum of my country. But, of course, I have never said that these paintings will end the violence or crime in Cololmbia.

But these paintings are testimonies of the times. For people who do not read history, paintings have an immediacy that other media do not have. So there are two positions-art that will change society, or art as historical testimony.

(Obviously, not all art is historical testimony in this sense. Most of Picasso and

Goya’s works are not political testimonies. In fact, most paintings are not political; one has only to think of Degas, Cézanne and Bonnard – and so the list can go on and on. And neither are most of Botero’s paintings and sculptures political.)

In your paintings I see a very strong sense of design or, what some might say, abstract qualities, and they are very beautiful. Is this consciously arrived at or does it come unconsciously?

Well, I’ll tell you. A painting is a decoration and I am very conscious of the design and

So your views of decorating the surface, and beauty, contradict the present ethos, which repudiates all of that?

Well, that’s right…but what can I say? For thousands of years decoration has been a big part of painting. The malaise all began with that man Duchamp, you know, A recent survey that came out in the papers said that Duchamp was the most influential artist of the 20th century. (French artist Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain, a 1917 porcelain urinal, was voted last century’s most important artwork by 500 British art experts on Dec2.)

(Here we both giggled with amusement.) What’s happened to Picasso and Matisse? You know, time is the great leveller. So many famous artists of the 19th century are now forgotten. Time will place all these things in perspective.

One of the problems is indifference. People get tired and bored – so the art world has to present something different to attract the crowd, to shock and to even offend in order to attract attention.

What advice do you have for young (and not so young) artists in Malaysia?

I believe strongly that for art to be honest and effective, it has to have its roots in the land and place. All great art has its roots.

So Malaysian artists should draw from its place – from Oriental art and whatever is local to the place. And through the four elements – of colour, composition drawing and poetic expression – and through the beauty of colours and its poetry, the work becomes universal.

The trouble with so many young artists today is that they copy from the latest art fashion found in the art magazines and they become international. But universal art is something different. In my case I draw from the tradition of folk art in my country and use those four elements that I referred to just now, and through that I transcend the locality and make my art universal.

You may start with something local but you must be faithful to the art of painting. You know, for example, Van Gogh, when he painted he sky in Provence, he did not just stick to the local, in the end he was faithful to painting. You must have those four elements to give your work quality, and with that quality your art becomes universal.

❚ Dr. Jolly Koh (who has a doctorate in education) is a leading senior artist in Malaysia. His recent book, ‘Artistic Imperatives’, of selected paintings and writings (published by Maya Press) is available at leading bookstores.

Photos courtesy of VW Special Projects Pte Ltd.

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