Botero and Laramée at the
Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec

Last Sunday, on April 1^st 2007, the city of Quebec received two great artists, one from Les Coteaux, Daniel Laramée who is also represented by Galerie Pierre Séguin. I am teasing of course. Daniel Laramée was present but Fernando Botero was busy somewhere else.

What a marvelous visit we had! You have to see this exhibition of this contemporary artist from Columbia. Very well set up and pleasantly commented with the audio guide as well as with the written descriptions, this exhibition does not fall into excess from too many works. The only excess we could talk about would be the volume of the characters, manipulation of proportions being kind of a trademark of Botero who still give a feeling of lightness to each character. 

It was very stimlating to see Laramée contemplating works of Botero, more specifically the many sculptures presented. Daniel said he loved how Botero treated the voluptuous forms. He enjoyed seing how Botero worked the mass and space while respecting the personality of the subject. He also told me how he would have treated differently certain parts of Botero’s work.

We can see Botero’s influences in the current and probably future production of Laramée. Already some of his works accept the comparison with Botero’s ones. In his series known as "Les grosses" (the "fat ones" - the term is by no means pejorative), he illustrates the deformation and space. But just like in Boteros’ works, those of Laramée evoluate with lightness. 

I leave you on a thought of Botero that made unanimity between us when we were at the museum in Quebec: "Art is deformation. There is no artwork that is really realistic and the deformation that I show is the result of my engagement in art".