The neologism “Atensão” is a hybrid term that combines the word attention with the political tension generated by the Brazilian military dictatorship’s seemingly endless grip on power (1964–85). The term Atensão was used as the title for the exhibition that opened at the Sala Experimental do Museu de Arte Moderna in Rio de Janeiro in 1976. This exhibition paved the way for Carlos Zílio (b. 1944) to re-engage with his art career after many years of political activism for which he was imprisoned and then exiled. The works exhibited at Atensão however, were very different from the visual art he produced in the 1960s.
Zílio re-launched his painting career in Brazil with the exhibition Atensão after being involved for many years with MR-8, the urban guerilla group inspired by the teachings of Che Guevara. Zílio lived in exile in France in the early 1970s. The works he presented at the exhibition were a far cry from the optimistic worldview of the Nova Objetividade Brasileira in 1967, and from Pop Art, which had influenced his work in the 1960s. On his return to Brazil he started painting and teaching again, and published Gávea magazine.
An interview with Fernando Cocchiarale [see doc. no. 1110517] refers to Zílio’s re-engagement with art following his exile after being in prison (1970–72) during the period of political repression under the military dictatorship. During his exile in Paris he set about writing the book: A querela do Brasil: a questa~o da identidade da arte brasileira: a obra de Tarsila, Di Cavalcanti e Portinari, 1922-1945 (Rio de Janeiro: Edição Funarte, 1982).
