The Opera Gallery’s Latest Show is Larger Than Life

Enter the eccentric worlds of Fernando Botero and Antonio Seguí at Opera Gallery’s latest show and immerse yourself in a world of irony and satire.

Very few artists in their lifetime achieve the level iconic notoriety as Botero and Seguí. Now in their mid-80’s these two artists have left a wealth of art that is sure to leave future generations of enthusiasts enchanted by their whimsical interpretations of life and society.

A closer observation of the two artists’ diverging techniques reveal uniquely personal perspectives of the worlds they inhabit. While Botero’s elephantine and plump figures directly contradict the traditional image of beauty, there remains something aesthetically pleasing in their supple and graceful attitudes. Their grand presences and gestures of ease and harmony are perfectly balanced by color, atmosphere, and mood. The immediate sense of effortless congruence takes over.

Seguí, on the other hand, presents us a world that is at odds with itself. Much like looking into a mirror of our contemporary civilization, we are thrown into a confusing, schizophrenic, and polychromatic world of din and ruckus. The figures that crowd these cityscapes appear frazzled, frantic, and vigilant as if in a constant state of alarm. Their caricature-esque aspect, along with the graphically stylized renditions of the buildings, give it a comical sheath to revel in.

Both artists use scale to their advantages. The paintings’ impressive sizes have visceral effects on the viewers taking us further into the worlds that lie just below the surface. Botero’s domestic reflections with their soft, velvety, and sensuous textures suggest the sense of immoderate indulgence and unabated abundance. Seguí’s exacerbated characters offer subtle and tragic reminders of the fragile society of strangers that populate the modern Metropolis.

There is one last mysterious theme that eludes me and which requires deeper investigation: that is the leitmotif of disconnection. Take a close look at the visage’s of Botero’s characters. There is an enigmatic sensation of distance, vacancy, and secrecy that keeps their inner lives concealed. Despite our being privy to some of their most private and personal moments, their gaze keeps us at bay; as if to say “judge me not.” Why is this? Are we not worthy judges? Is our verdict useless to them? Has our cultural conditioning created an impenetrable bias of the standards of beauty?

Similarly, Seguí’s inexplicable wandering legs and stray heads sporadically placed betray any sense of cohesion. Is it perhaps as an allusion of societal regression? Are we reduced to being heartless creatures meandering throughout a sea of choleric torment? Perhaps.

The Opera Gallery’s latest show is a spectacle that is Larger than Life. These two world renown artists are in perfect dialogue, challenging to the constructs of the civilization that not only have we created, but also which we create us. Open to the public every day (except for Sunday) there is no sensible reason to miss it.