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Fernando Botero

FERNANDO BOTERO

BOTERO: Recent Works Galerie Gmurzynska 9–30 April 2020 Zurich
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Press Release

‘What makes watercolour special and different is that the light comes from the whiteness of the support. That’s why some areas in the works are left unpainted. In contrary to that concept, most of the times in the oil paintings the colours cover all the surface.’–Fernando Botero

In this recent series, the artist uses the canvas itself in his artistic palette to comment on painting, instead of obscuring the support. As such, Botero highlights the physicality of the material and likewise his painted bodies, but not in a stark manner, rather a playful and serene celebration of human life and art.

Created in dialogue with European Old Masters and Latin American colonial baroque art, Fernando Botero‘s (b. 1932, Medellin) mature works exemplify the artist’s interests and painterly technique. His iconic, voluminous forms are presented here as village musicians, plumb painters, statuesque newlyweds, gratified picnickers, floating ballet dancers and corpulent models.

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About the Artist

Colombian artist Fernando Botero is internationally recognised for his sensual forms, exaggerated human size figures, still life, animals and objects of all kinds. Basing his choice of colours, shapes and proportions on his intuitive aesthetic thinking, Botero celebrates life within his subjects while mocking their role in society and everyday routine. His art exalts opulent grace while creating parodies with satirical and political commentary. Botero masters various disciplines including drawing, sculpture and painting. He reflects on many themes and experiences that shaped his youth in Colombia reminiscing tradition, beauty, passion, violence and pain.

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Also Exhibiting at Galerie Gmurzynska

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Wifredo Lam, Pablo Picasso
WIFREDO LAM, PABLO PICASSO Wifredo Lam & Pablo Picasso Galerie Gmurzynska 23 April–30 June 2026 New York
About the Gallery
GALERIE GMURZYNSKA is an international art gallery with locations in Zurich, Zug and St. Moritz, Switzerland, that specialises in modern and contemporary art as well as Russian avant-garde.

The gallery was founded in 1965 in Cologne, Germany by Antonina Gmurzynska. From the beginning, the gallery was interested in organising exhibitions that had a documentary character both through the choice of themes and through its publications.

In 1996 Mathias Rastorfer became a partner of both extensions of the gallery, having been with it since 1991 when he left his position as Associate Director at Pace Gallery in New York. Under his influence and in addition to the gallery’s traditional repertoire, the work of contemporary artists such as Donald Judd, Louise Nevelson and Yves Klein amongst others, was incorporated. Ten years later the gallery opened its third branch in St. Moritz at Via Serlas, in 2003.

Forty years after its establishment, Krystyna Gmurzynska and Mathias Rastorfer relocated the gallery from Cologne to its new flagship location in Zurich’s Paradeplatz in 2005. The building that currently houses the gallery dates back to 1857 and it is the same building in which the Dada movement was founded in 1917. The first exhibition in Zurich was a solo exhibition by Alexander Calder entitled, The Modernist, that was thoroughly endorsed by the Calder Foundation, which described it is as, ‘rare to experience a presentation of this quality outside of a museum’. As with each exhibition at the gallery the show featured a fully illustrated catalogue with important essays.

Galerie Gmurzynska continues to present unique exhibitions that are both historically well researched and scientifically documented. It also continues to work with leading art historians as well as collaborating with museums on exhibitions and for the enlargement of their permanent collections. Additionally, it currently participates in several art fairs such as Art Basel Miami Beach, Art Basel Hong Kong, Frieze Masters in London, Salon in New York and Art Basel, Switzerland. In the past it has taken part in FIAC, Abu Dhabi and PAD New York.

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Address
Paradeplatz 2
Zurich
Switzerland
Opening Hours
Mon - Fri, 10am - 6.30pm
Sat, 10am - 4pm
(1)
Zurich Paradeplatz 2
Galerie Gmurzynska contemporary art gallery in Zurich Switzerland
Galerie Gmurzynska
Paradeplatz 2, Zurich, Switzerland
+41 442 267 070
http://www.gmurzynska.com

Opening hours
Mon - Fri, 10am - 6.30pm
Sat, 10am - 4pm
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