The soft taste of Falanghina by Terre Stregate tells of a sensuality and a volume reminiscent of those of Fernando Botero’s paintings, the Colombian artist remembered for his voluminous figures
The question most often made by the profane when they approach the art of Fernando Botero is always the same: “Why does Botero always paint fat figures “?
With such a distinguishable style, the Colombian painter – now 87 years old – has always divided criticism.
Even today, in fact, Botero is placed right in the middle between two equidistant and distant positions between them. That of those who still do not even consider him a contemporary artist – beating his paintings as “childish” – and that of those who count him among the icons of modern art.
Volume or Fatness?
Already a couple of years ago, in 2016, the magazine ” Finestre sull’arte ” tried to give an answer to the historical question through the pen of Federico Giannini and Ilaria Baratta.
Respectively director in charge and news and special projects of the massese magazine, Giannini and Baratta investigated Botero’s style at length, starting from the fact that their city, Massa, is close to Pietrasanta (LU), where Botero lived for some time.
The authors tell us, accompanying their studies with a reference bibliography, that – in reality – it was not the Colombian author’s intention to paint “fat figures” by force.
Simply, in 1956, in one of his early works, Botero represented a still life with a widely dilated mandolin. The instrument was portrayed with a very small resonance hole compared to its volume.
This amplified representation of the object struck Botero exceedingly, evoking in him a feeling of profound sensuality. The figures, therefore, who may appear to be simply “fat” to the unattended eye, are – in reality – volumes.
In a recent interview with France-Presse, a French press agency, Botero himself declared: “I do not paint fat women. Nobody will believe it, but it’s true. What I paint are volumes. When I paint a still life I always paint a volume, if I paint an animal I do it in a volumetric way, and the same goes for a landscape. I am interested in volume, in the sensuality of form. If I paint a woman, a man, a dog or a horse, I always have this idea of volume, and I have no obsession for fat women at all “.
From Botero to Terre Stregate
Resolved issue, then.
Certainly, however, it remains that Botero’s figures are sinuous and round. Just as an attentive taster cannot hide the fact that the same sensuality and softness of the Colombian painter’s works can be found in the Falanghina “Svelato”.
Round and full-bodied but not greasy, the Falanghina di Terre Stregate combines its taste with pleasure, warmth and positivity. The same archaic concept that characterizes Botero’s painting.
