eveloping his talent in the 1940s and early 1950s. In another context, however, Botero availed himself of artistic modes distinct from the modernity of the major urban cultural centers of South America at this time. His observation of the colonial images, both painted and sculpted, in the churches of his youth, served as a rich spring that fed the imagination of a child already endowed with a craving to make art.The religious paintings and sculptures of provincial chapels or home altars naive expressions of religiosity according to standard classifications and hierarchies of art, but central to the spiritual nourishment of the populace throughout the centuries in urban and rural Latin America - are key to understanding the beginnings of the aesthetic of Botero, Later he would excavate his memories of such things, re-encountering and reinventing them in his studio, giving new life to the strong colors, exaggerated forms and expressive faces of the people and things that he had observed in the religious art and the popular commercial prints that were a natural part of his life as a child and a young man in Medelln.The intersection of the popular and ''high'' in art has been critically important to the various discourses of modernity, from the first decades of the twentieth century onward. Botero has engaged in these dialogues between the popular and the elevated, discovering in both aspects that would form critical components of his distinct form of expression. Botero: Colombian Artist (1/1)Fernando Botero's self-identification as a man and an artist from and of Colombia is the single most outstanding characteristic of his art. In fact, one could cite works in virtually every genre and analyze them according to the specifically Colombian elements present in them. We have seen already how in his religious compositions, such as Our Lady of Colombia, the flag connotes national identity. Banners with the national colors rise from the Virgin's...
