Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt

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Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt (El Uvital, rural area of Fredonia (Antioquia), October 23, 1919 - Medellín, May 14, 1995) was a Colombian sculptor and writer.

He is considered one of the most prolific and nationally and internationally appreciated Colombian artists. His works are characterized by being gigantic, melodramatic and spectacular, highlighting in many of them the great characters of Colombian history as well as his important deeds and works. Many of his sculptures are public monuments, with almost all of his work being found in different cities in Colombia and Mexico. Some works that were not conceived to be exhibited in public remain in Caldas (Antioquia) under the care of his wife, María Elena Quintero de Arenas, and his five children. He was a serial sculptor who always worked with bronze, concrete, and steel, although some of his early work also included terracotta. He won the Colombian National Plastic Arts Award in 1975, awarded by Colcultura.

Biography

He was the son of a peasant couple from Antioquia. In his childhood he dedicated himself to helping his parents with agricultural work in Fredonia, his hometown. After finishing his basic primary studies, he had a fleeting experience as a seminarian between 1931 and 1932 at the Yarumal Mission Seminary. Around 1938 he began to develop his facet as a sculptor carving Christs in wood and also as an assistant in the construction of works for different sculptors and muralists, such as Pedro Nel Gómez and Bernardo Vieco. He studied at the Institute of Fine Arts of Medellín and at the School of Fine Arts of the National University of Colombia (Bogotá), between 1939 and 1941. In 1944 he decided to settle in Mexico to develop studies at the Academy of San Carlos and in the Free Association of Art La Esmeralda. During his stay in this country, he alternated his studies in plastic arts with work related to his artistic facet. He was an assistant set designer at Estudios Azteca, a writer and columnist in print media, a sculptor, and an art photographer. He was an art professor at the Ciudadela de México School of Crafts, of which he was also one of its founders.

Between 1959 and 1966 he worked in the United States and from there he went to Europe, where he lived until the end of 1966. During his stay in the old continent, Arenas Betancourt also served as Minister Counselor of the Colombian Embassy in Italy. Returning to Colombia definitively, at the beginning of 1967, he established his art workshop in the municipality of Caldas (Antioquia), where he had beginner collaborators and some experienced ones. In his country, he also served as an artistic advisor to the University of Antioquia.

During his professional career he worked on different materials. There are from drawings, portraits and watercolors to giant works that mix steel and concrete. He was also a skilled sculptor who used plaster, wood, basalt, stone, bronze, and terracotta, among others. From the beginning of the 1950s he began to carry out his largest works, generally commissioned by government entities, private companies and some simply developed by his personal taste.

Cuauhtémoc, one of his great sculptures created between 1953 and 1954, 18 meters high and made of bronze and basalt, which was expressly commissioned by the Mexican government to be installed in The Building of the Secretariat of Communications and Public Works (SCOP) in Mexico City, was irreparably damaged in the 1985 Mexico earthquake.

On October 18, 1987, he was kidnapped by the FARC in Caldas (Antioquia), when he was traveling with his wife and children. He was released on January 1, 1988 after 81 days in captivity, after his family paid a large sum of money that his kidnappers demanded. During this period he dedicated himself to making drawings in a notebook and writing about his experiences in captivity, which later became the basis for the creation and publication of his book The steps of the condemned .

He died at the El Rosario Clinic in Medellín in 1995 due to liver cancer. His remains rest in Fredonia.

Outstanding works

Among his most outstanding works and currently on public display are the following:


Work	Date of construction	Height	Country	Location
Prometheus (and Quetzalcoátl)	1951 - 1952	7.7 m	Mexico	Faculty of Exact Sciences of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City
Prayer to the Proscribe	1957	3.6 m	Colombia	ElDorado International Airport, Bogotá
Prometheus Chain	1957	2.5 m	Colombia	Alternate Headquarters Museum of Antioquia, Medellín (Antioquia)
La Guacamaya Herida	1959	2.5 m	Mexico	Work specifically. Fruit Lomas de Cuernavaca, Cuernavaca (Morelos)
Monumental heads of the heroes of the Mexican Revolution: Moreno, Hidalgo, Juárez and Zapata	1959 - 1960	2.5 m each	Mexico	Located in different places
Bolívar Desnudo	1956 - 1962 Inaugurated in 1963	10 m	Colombia	Bolivar Square, Pereira (Risaralda)
Tribute to General José María Córdova	1957 - 1964	6 m	Colombia	Main Park, Rionegro (Antioquia)
Prometheus (Monument to the Founders)	1965	10 m	Colombia	Carrera 13 con Calle 13, Avenida Circunvalar, Pereira (Risaralda)
Long Journey of the Vien to the Heart of Fire	1964 - 1966	Two panels of 3 x 8.5 m each	Colombia	Facade of building of the Beneficent of Antioquia, Av. Sucre with Ayacucho, Medellín (Antioquia)
Christ Falling (Cristo Prometheus)	1965 - 1968	6 m	Colombia	Central Patio del Bloque 16 de la Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín (Antioquia)
Prometheus Chain	1967 - 1968		Colombia	Main Term of the Technological University of Pereira, Pereira (Risaralda)
The Flautist and the Dog	1969	1.6 m	Colombia	San Ignacio Building, University of Antioquia, Medellín (Antioquia)
The Creator Man of Energy (Promethes)	1968 - 1970	18 m	Colombia	Central Plate of the University of Antioquia, Medellín (Antioquia)
Lanceros del Pantano de Vargas	1968 - 1971	33 m	Colombia	Paipa (Boyacá). It is the largest monument and/or sculpture in Colombia. It was declared a National Monument through Decree 1744 of 1 September 1975.
The Life (Infinite Man's Temptation)	1971 - 1974	14 m	Colombia	Plazoleta Edificio Suramericana de Seguros, Medellín (Antioquia)
Monument in tribute to the Cacica Gaitana	1974	21 m	Colombia	Av. Circumvalate with Calle 4, Neiva (Huila)
The Prometheus of Freedom (Monumento a Las Bananeras)	1974 - 1978	14 m	Colombia	This work was designed to be installed in Curacao. Finally it was installed in the Square of Martyrs, Ciénaga (Magdalena)
Monument to Effort	1978	12 m	Colombia	Bolivar Square, Armenia (Quindío)
The Race Challenge	1980	18 m	Colombia	Banco Popular Headquarters, Parque Berrío, Medellín (Antioquia)
Creation	1981 - 1983	18 m	Colombia	Av. La Playa (Cl. 52) with Av. Oriental (Cr. 46) Edificio Vicente Uribe Rendón, Medellín (Antioquia)
Monument to Porfirio Barba Jacob	1982 - 1983	5.5 m	Colombia	Parque Principal, Santa Rosa de Osos (Antioquia)
The Family (New Life)	1984	9 m	Colombia	It was originally designed to be part of the main park of Fredonia (Antioquia), but this idea was not realized. It was located since 1986 in the Monaco Building of Medellín (Antioquia), former residence owned by Pablo Escobar Gaviria. It was dismantled in 2018, a few months before the building demolition. Since 2020 it is part of the art collection of the Museum of Antioquia.
Christ Latin American Liberator	1978 - 1985	15 m	Colombia	Metropolitan Cathedral Maria Reina and Auxiliadora, Barranquilla (Atlantic)
Monument to the Race	1988	38 m	Colombia	La Alpujarra Administrative Centre, Medellín (Antioquia)
Brother Caballo	1990	1.7 m (without pedestal)	Colombia	Barrio El Poblado, in front of the urbanization Vegas de Zúñiga, Avenida Las Vegas with Calle 18C Sur, Medellín (Antioquia)
Bolívar Condor	1991	17 m	Colombia	Bolivar Square, Manizales (Caldas)
The Revolution in March	1994	6.5 m	Colombia	Plaza Alfonso López, Valledupar (Cesar)
Monument to the Founders	1995	22 m	Colombia	Parque de los Fundadores, Villavicencio (Meta)
God Mercury	Inaugurated in 1997	1.5 m	Colombia	Estación San Antonio, Metro de Medellín, Medellín (Antioquia)
God Mercury		5 m	Colombia	Plazoleta Mercurio, between Calles 5 and 6 with Carreras 9 and 10, opposite the building of Fenalco, Cali (Valle). Identic to the one located in Medellín except for its termination in copper and be mounted on a pedestal.
The Potros		4 m	Colombia	Av. The Take with Race 2, Neiva (Huila)
The Flautist			Colombia	Municipal Administrative Centre, Itagüí (Antioquia)
The flautist and the dancer		3.5 m	Colombia	Parque Lleras, corner of 9A Street with Carrera 40, Medellín (Antioquia)
The Pan God			Colombia
El Juárez			Mexico	Puebla
Christ without Cross			Colombia	Pereira
The Eagle that Cae			Mexico	In front of the communications tower, Mexico City
Christ Moreno			Colombia	San Benito Abad, Sucre
John Lennon naked			Colombia	Posada Alemana, Salento, Quindío, commissioned by Carlos Lehder.