SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE A young woman poses for photograph in front of a huge facial sculpture of a woman by Colombian artist Fernando Botero, displayed in front of the Esplanade theatre by the bay in Singapore, 06 December 2004. Botero's restrospective exhibition of outdoor sculptures and paintings is the first showing in Southeast Asia, which will be launched 08 December.

Botero’s retrospective is his largest ever, spanning over 40 years and including more than 70 paintings and over 30 sculptures big and small.

Fernando Botero stated, "Colombia is in my heart of hearts; it's something like an obsession, my own country. I lived 15 years in New York; I never painted a North American subject never. I have been living 30 years in France; I never painted anything French. When you are young, you develop a very great love for the place you are born, this 20 first years of your life are very important. And then the fact that my country has unfortunately been through so many problems with violence and problems of drugs, and I am even more concerned about my country. There is nothing to understand; nobody has to explain to you the paintings. The fact that the subject matter is very exotic, very foreign to you, the universality of art is based in something else. It's in the colour, the composition, the drawing, in the style -- this is the aesthetic pleasure of looking at art. You just look and feel the painting."