In this text, Mário Barata discusses the production of Antonio Dias and how it fits into the European art market. He mentions certain formal characteristics of the work, such as confidence in the organization of planes and spaces, the use of striking images, and the array of colors (red, black, and white). Even though Dias’s work partakes of languages that emerged in developed countries, to Barata, it represents a distinctly Brazilian art. The critic claims that Dias makes use of sexual themes and violence, related to memories of his own life, to comment on the current sociopolitical context. The text places emphasis on the brutality of new art, which Dias expresses in his striking images.

The production of artist Antonio Dias (b. 1944) has encompassed Pop and Conceptual art, as well as a large body of objects. His career reached its heights in the sixties. The manifesto “Declaração de princípios básicos da vanguarda” (see ICAA digital archive doc. no. 1110371), which was instrumental in making his work known, was the result of the heated debates at the seminar Propostas 66 held in December 1966 at the São Paulo Public Library at the impetus of Concrete painter Waldemar Cordeiro. The event brought together artists and art critics working in Rio de Janeiro. The manifesto formulates points that would later be developed by Hélio Oiticica in his “Esquema geral da nova objetividade,” published in the catalogue for the exhibition, Nova Objetividade Brasileira,held at the Museu de Arte Moderna (MAM/Rio) in April 1967.  

Mário Barata was a pioneering figure in Brazilian art history. He contributed to the founding of the Brazilian chapter of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA) and worked with the Associação Brasileira de Críticos de Arte (ABCA). A scholar of different topics and periods in the history of Brazilian art, he contributed to the journal Galeria de Arte Moderna (GAM) in the late sixties. He also wrote about the young Brazilian avant-garde for Recife-based newspaper Jornal do Comércio.

For further reading, see the following texts by Antonio Dias: “Arte ‘brasileira’ não existe” (doc. no. 1075066) and “O meu interesse pelo livro de artista…” (doc. no. 1110586).