Botero Sculpture: Sculpture

It's impossible not to like Fernando Botero's sculpture, an outgrowth of the Colombian artist's constant search for three-dimensionality that pervades his popular paintings of puffy endomorphs. His sculpted women are monumental oceans of flesh, beckoning and vulnerable at once; the Little Whore with her elephantine thighs parodies our carnal urges. His statues peer out anxiously with small eyes as if seeking a meaning to life. In creating a plump general, a bishop or a Roman soldier, Botero mocks the fixity of energies channeled into manipulation, power and control. Boisterous and touching at once, with echoes of pre-Columbian art, his oversized sculptures are a human comedy for our time. A gleaming polychrome snake, a whimsical horse with tresses and a winsome plaster dog are also within the reach of this versatile artist, who is now based in Italy. Fifty color plates and 125 duotones complement an intelligent text by Sullivan, who teaches art history at New York University. (December 4