The text “Al ritmo del Caribe” was written by art critic and curator Miguel González, a crucial figure in the development of art from the city of Cali in the seventies. González writes about a series of events and situations in the Colombian cultural sphere in the seventies that he considers a preamble to works in photography and film that would prove essential to the production of certain Colombian artists. In these terms, he mentions the work of Santiago Cárdenas and Darío Morales. He dedicates more space to the work of Fernell Franco, Éver Astudillo, and Óscar Muñoz, all of whom are from Cali. On the basis of their individual experiences, those artists developed alternative proposals. Their work entailed a particular approach to drawing, to light and its behavior, and to the conception of time and space. González formulates an overview of Colombian art from the seventies centered on Conceptualism and Hyperrealism, both of which, in his view, question the notion of “the historical” and “craft.”

Published in 1979, this text by critic Miguel González (b. 1950) discusses the characteristics of a decade that witnessed the convergence and coexistence of traditional visual languages and the languages of photography and film that have transformed the systems of representation pertinent to Colombian art. The work of Fernell Franco (1942–2006), Óscar Muñoz (b. 1951), and Éver Astudillo (b. 1948) evidences a common context seen from different perspectives. In the end, though, those artists developed individual artistic projects that expanded the possibilities of the media of drawing and photography. Due to contact with film, their work altered the way time and space are understood. 

In this text, González makes specific mention of, among other things, biennials dedicated to the graphic arts; the changes in forms of representation in the work of artists such as Darío Morales (1944–88) and Luis Caballero (1943–95); and the exhibition Nueva fotografía norteamericana, organized by the Museo de Arte Moderno of Cali - La Tertulia. He asserts that those events and phenomena attest to how new languages (photography and film) took hold in the graphic arts and afforded some creators (among them Franco, Astudillo, and Muñoz) a keener and more intimate vision. González asserts that the work of those artists represented daily life to expose the situation of cities like Cali that were experiencing rapid modernization and an increase in violence.

This article provides a concise vision of a recent historical moment, the seventies, and of the processes brewing in art from Cali at that time, specifically in relation to the work of the three artists mentioned. The cultural life of Cali in the seventies was intense thanks to the constant influx of European immigrants, rapid modernization, and the creation of new venues such as Ciudad Solar, a focal point of debate on art, film, literature, and photography. 

Though the original image of this article could not be found at any of the local libraries consulted, this copy is, in our view, of great value due to the importance of the texts and images it contains.