If you walk through the Meatpacking District’s 14th Street Square, you’ll now be greeted by the looming eight-foot-tall Sphinx sculpture!
It’s part of a new exhibition that highlights one of Colombia’s most successful artists, Fernando Botero, put on by David Benrimon Fine Art to celebrate his 90th birthday this year. The exhibition will feature paintings, sculpture and works on paper spanning over 70 years.
They decided to bring the sculptural element directly to the public, with the Sphinx display serving as part of the NYC Department of Transportation’s Art Program and the Meatpacking Business Improvement District (BID)’s public plaza installations.
Botero’s Sphinx is made up of a human’s head with the body of a lion and wings of a falcon — in the traditional image from Egyptian, Greek and Central Asian cultures — but adopts his own signature “Boterismo” style with its “exaggerated proportions” and “overwhelming roundness.” It has previously been displayed everywhere from Berlin to Medellín, Colombia to The Hauge in the Netherlands.
Botero was born in Medellín in 1932 and attended school for matadors before discovering his passion for art. He left Colombia for Spain, France, and eventually Florence, Italy where he learned to draw from Renaissance painting techniques. His work is now displayed all over the world, including right here at The Museum of Modern Art in New York. There is even a Museo Botero dedicated to him in Bogotá.
Catch the creature in the 14th Street Square between 14th Street and Ninth Ave, now through April 19!