Taking Botero seriously: Fernando Botero, who will be 76 in two weeks, caught the art world’s collective eye a half-century ago, yet his art is so idiosyncratic that it continues to defy definitive analysis. I, for one, have never been able to decide whether the Colombian native is a sly and exceptionally deft satirist or a market-savvy merchandiser. [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Chicano art, beyond rebellion: Variety, not ethnicity, is the show’s hallmark. Artist Ken Gonzales-Day deals with the lynching of Mexican Americans in California by digitally erasing the victims from historic photos. Sandra de la Loza, meanwhile, fills in the gaps that history erased by placing plaques (that are quickly removed) in places such as the whitewashed Siqueiros mural at Olvera Street. And Julio Cesar Morales reveals the resourcefulness of immigrants trying to cross the border illegally by exposing them in their hiding places, such as the little girl inside a piñata, through transparent water-color illustrations based on real cases. [LA Times]
Ghosts from the land of milk and honey: Iraqi art finds haven at New York gallery: Somewhere in Baghdad, members of the same family watch explosions going off – not through the comforting, detached glare of a television screen but through the frame of a window. Immortalized in stark black and white, these two photographs of everyday life in Iraq confront visitors to the Pomegranate Art Gallery in the heart of New York City’s Soho district. Behind the lens is Canadian-born Iraqi photojournalist Farah Nosh. [Daily Star]
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