In Memoriam: Fernando Botero

I just learned that one of my absolute favorite artists just died: Colombian artist Fernando Botero. He is best known for his sculptures, but he also was a prolific at producing paintings and drawings. His signature was that the subjects of his art were depicted as fat. Very fat. Corpulent. Obese. You have heard of Flemish painter Rubens and his "Rubenesque" models. They are almost anorexic compared to Botero's. He died this morning at the age of 91.

Right before he died, would have been my favorite living artist. He's now ineligible for the status of my "favorite living artist" due to recent circumstances beyond both of ours control. In his honor, here is a tour of just a few of the works of Sr. Botero I have seen during my travels.

Plaza Botero. Medellin, Colombia. September 16, 2012. The best place on earth to see the work of Botero.

Plaza Botero. Medellin, Colombia. September 16, 2012. A horse is a horse of course unless of course the horse is as fat as a Botero horse.

Plaza Botero. Medellin, Colombia. September 16, 2012. Pity the pony that has to support that weight.

Plaza Botero. Medellin, Colombia. September 16, 2012. It's a nude fatty faceoff. A perfect place for a family-friendly photo session.

Plaza Botero. Medellin, Colombia. September 16, 2012. This is, truly, a fat cat. Except it's a dog. "Perro," not "Gato." Should have been my clue.

Plaza Botero. Medellin, Colombia. September 16, 2012. Seductive. Perhaps inspired by Lady Godiva?

Museo Botero. Bogotá, Colombia. September 7, 2012. A Botero still life. Even his fruits and vegetables are fat. Even his cutlery is fat!

Museo Botero. Bogotá, Colombia. September 7, 2012. Perhaps my favorite of all of Botero's two dimensional works: the fattest crucifixion scene you will ever see.

Museo Botero. Bogotá, Colombia. September 7, 2012. Even his nuns!

Somewhere in Ljubljana, Slovenia. September 15, 2014. I was walking in Ljubljana -- something I very highly recommend as it is a great city -- and I saw this fountain with its fat figures and I thought: "Those have to be Boteros." When I got back to the hotel, I looked it up. Of course they were.

What else could they be?

Museo Soumaya. Mexico City. December 12, 2021. Again, I see a fat sculpture. I think: "Must be a Botero." Check the tag. Sure 'nuff.

And I will leave you with a picture of a much younger me, from 2012, at the entrance to the Museo Botero in Bogotá, Colombia.

I was in good hands with Botero.

In Honor of National Accordion Month: the Accordion Man of Preseren Square

June is National Accordion Month. It is the time to celebrate that melodious but most maligned of musical instruments. The accordion sounds like a portable organ, with the amplification being supplied by the muscle of the accordionist, whose continual squeezing of the squeezebox forces out those dulcet tones.

And who better to bring out in honor of National Accordion Month but the Accordion Man of Preseren Square in Ljubljana, Slovenia. On a trip to the Slovene capital back in September 2014, the Accordion Man was out there in the most central square in downtown Ljubljana, entertaining the crowds for coins thrown in his accordion case, in the late morning when we met up with our walking tour guide. Then, several hours later, after a leisurely dinner along the waters of the Ljubljanica River that meanders through town, well after dark, the Accordion Man was still squeezing out the dulcet tones in Preseren Square. The Accordion Man truly is the hardest working man in show business. (Well, Slovenian show business at least.)

Happy National Accordion Month from the Accordion Man of Preseren Square.

Phot-o' the Day: Tourist Visiting Communist-Era Relic; Ljubljana, Slovenia

Sometime, in the distant future, after I've passed from this world, my genius will be discovered. And it quickly will be decided that, indeed, it would be best for it to remain undiscovered.

(Me standing with some Communist-era statuary in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in October 2019.)