Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt

Early Life

Arenas was the son of a peasant couple from Antioquia. As a child, he helped his parents with farming in Fredonia, his hometown.^[10] After completing his primary education, he briefly attended the Yarumal Seminary of Missions between 1931 and 1932. Around 1938, he began developing his skills as a sculptor, carving wooden Christ figures and assisting other sculptors and muralists, such as Pedro Nel Gómez and Bernardo Vieco Ortiz, in the construction of their works.^[1][11]

Career

Arenas studied at the Institute of Fine Arts in Medellín and at the School of Fine Arts of the National University of Colombia in Bogotá between 1939 and 1941.^[12][13] In 1944, Arenas decided to settle in Mexico to pursue studies at the Academy of San Carlos and the La Esmeralda Free Art Association.^[10][14] During his time in Mexico, Arenas combined his studies in visual arts with work related to his artistic side. Also Arenas was a set design assistant at Azteca Estudios, a writer and columnist for print media, a sculptor, and an art photographer.^[15] Arenas was an art teacher at the Ciudadela School of Crafts in Mexico City, which he also co-founded.^[16]

Between 1959 and 1966, Arenas worked in the United States and then traveled to Europe, where he lived until the end of 1966.^[16] During his time on the continent, Arenas Betancourt also served as Minister Counselor at the Colombian Embassy in Italy.^[17] Upon returning to Colombia permanently in early 1967, he established his art studio in the municipality of Caldas (Antioquia), where he employed both novice and experienced artists. He also served as an artistic advisor to the University of Antioquia in his home country.^[18]

Throughout his career, he worked with a variety of materials, from drawings, portraits, and watercolors to monumental works that combined steel and concrete. He was also a skilled sculptor, utilizing plaster, wood, basalt, stone, bronze, and terracotta, among others. From the early 1950s onward, he began creating his larger works, generally commissioned by government entities and private companies, and some simply undertaken for his personal enjoyment.^[19]

Examples of his artwork are:

• Nude Bolívar in Pereira^[20]

Additionally to sculpture, Arenas Betancourt worked in printmaking and book illustration.^[21]

• Monumento a la Raza, bronze and concrete, 38 m height, located in La Alpujarra Administrative Center in Medellín
• Sculptural Complex Vargas Swamp Lancers near Paipa is the largest sculpture in Colombia.
• Monument to Effort in Armenia
• Monument to the Marching Revolution in Valledupar
• Monument to the founders in Bogotá (installed 1965)^[20]

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 Ministry of Communications and Public Works (SCOP) of Mexico City, was irreparably damaged in the Mexico earthquake of 1985.^[22]

On 18 October 1987, Arenas was kidnapped by the FARC in Caldas (Antioquia), while traveling with his wife and children. He was released on 1 January 1988, after 81 days in captivity,^[23][24] after his family paid a large sum of money demanded by his kidnappers for his release,^[1][25] he dedicated himself to drawing in a notebook and writing about his experiences in captivity, which later formed the basis for his book, 'The Steps of the Condemned' (es:Los pasos del condenado).^[26]

Death

Arenas Betancourt died on 14 May 1995 in El Rosario Clinic in Medellín in 1995 from liver cancer. His remains rest in Fredonia.^[8][27][28] His ashes rest at the base of the torch of liberty carried on the right hand of the sculpture of the Nude Bolívar.^[29]