During his visit to Brazil, the French art critic Pierre Restany notices that “the complex Brazilian reality” is reflected in “the small world of art,” to the point of expressing a certain “cultural confusion” (over and above questions of dogma and aesthetic styles) that is an integral part of the country’s contradictions. Restany detects a convergence of thinking in both art criticism and in the production of art—following the military coup of 1964—regarding problems that, despite their diversity, he believes can be grouped as follows: the “concept of marginality” in terms of behavior that combines beat and hippy influences; a spontaneous attraction to spiritualism; a critical awareness of society; “an intermediate generation between aesthetics and anthropology” that is appropriating methodologies from the social sciences to research the limits of artistic language; and, of course, the relationship between “technology and nature” in works that are an integral part of the physical structure of Brazil, while taking full advantage of technological advances. The artists mentioned in Restany’s article “Brazilian Art on Quicksand” include: Artur Barrio, Lygia Clark, Cildo Meireles, Gabriel Borba Filho, Antonio Manuel, Lygia Pape, Hélio Oiticica, Sérgio Camargo, Antonio Dias, Regina Vater, Julio Plaza, Mira Schendel, Anna Bella Geiger, and Franz Krajcberg.

In order to systematize the broad range of alternatives in Brazilian art (from 1964 to 1974), the French art critic Pierre Restany (1930–2003) created a number of categories based on, for example, the “marginal” position of artists in terms of the art market; aesthetic research that draws from other fields of knowledge; the “conceptualization” of the artist’s work; the use of technological or audiovisual resources; and the viewer’s involvement in the work. As far back as 1964, Restany could already see that Brazilian artists, such as Antonio Dias (b. 1944), were working with a new type of objective realism [see doc. no. 1110512].    

In his article, Restany refers to a “fluctuating and restless” Brazilian reality that coexists with an institutional structure of museums, salons, and the Biennial. In his opinion, the Brazilian potential “energy for creating” its own reality exceeds any type of fiction. In his article “L’art bresilien dans les sables mouvants” he provides examples of the categories referred to above with works by Artur Barrio (b. 1945), Lygia Clark (1920–88), Cildo Meireles (b. 1948), Gabriel Borba Filho (b. 1942), Antonio Manuel (b. 1947), Lygia Pape (1927–2004), Hélio Oiticica (1937–80), Sérgio Camargo (1930–90), Antonio Dias (b. 1944), Regina Vater (b. 1943), Julio Plaza (1938–2003), Mira Schendel (1919–88), Anna Bella Geiger (b. 1933), and Franz Krajcberg (b. 1921).