Fernando Botero

There is a thin line between fine art and illustration, and it is loaded with contempt. Fine artists generally feel that they are doing work that is fundamentally true, at least to themselves. Whereas illustrators are doing somebody else's work. They are merely immigrant field workers compared to the majesty of office work. Even graphic designers look down on illustrators. They might be prone to think, "I've got plenty of stock photography and Photoshop filters to last forever." So illustrators are stuck sitting on a fence. Maybe I chose this field of work due its martyr status (which I generally believe I am anyway), but really I like the reach it has. Everybody reads magazines, children’s books, the newspaper, and sometimes movie posters. Not everybody goes to the art museum. In fact, few people know who Fernando Botero is, even though he is currently one of the most famous painters in the world. Statistically, he is a nobody compared to Dr. Suess. Yet, in the art world, which I am currently entrenched, the roles are reversed. Interestingly enough, this very same snotty art world has elevated some illustrators to the status of fine artist, and never gave it a second thought. I’m talking specifically about those famous chums -- Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Bosch, David, and all the other Renaissance masters. They are merely illustrators, hired by the church to paint bible scenes. No different, functionally, than Ralph Steadman hired to paint a beer label.

Brad Holland has eloquently stated on the subject, “Everybody is an artist these days. Rock and Roll singers are artists. So are movie directors, performance artists, make-up artists, tattoo artists, con artists, and rap artists. . . . The only people left in America who seem not to be artists are illustrators.”

So why does the hierarchy remain? “Fernando Botero, Colombian painter. In 1948, he started work as an illustrator.” This implies that he no longer works as an illustrator, which is good because it is only a decent place to start. I would contend that he is still an illustrator, and that only the venue has changed. He now gets paid (and mighty well) after he does a work instead of before.

Either way, I would pay big money to have one of his fatties hanging in my house! His work really strikes me as the perfect balance between whimsical and profound. In truth, it makes me giggle with delight, even more so from the melancholy almost all of his people project.