South America's Picasso

Last Thursday, BBC TV's Newsnight broadcast a piece on Fernando Botero, the 75-year-old Colombian accused of being "the Picasso of South America" (title link). He likes his women fat and ugly. So do his wealthy clients, it seems, because he sells his paintings for £2m each. I can't see why anyone would buy anything so gross. His work lacks Beryl Cook's endearing sense of humour (CLICK). My guess is that his pictures are seen as a good investment, because of his age. "Buy Botero, Sylvester. He's 75. He can't last much longer. Soon as he snuffs it, his work will quadruple in value." The reason for Newsnight's interest is that Fernando's recent exhibition at UC Berkeley's Doe Library (CLICK) featured a series of sketches and paintings showing the abuse of inmates at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, a show guaranteed to make headlines.