This review of Tunga’s work was written by the critic Wilson Coutinho on the occasion of “Tunga,” the exhibition of works by the Brazilian artist at the Espaço ABC (Rio de Janeiro, 1980). Coutinho describes him as one of the few experimental artists who manages to give formal expression to his ideas. The critic also notes the lust and sexuality in Tunga’s work which, according to Coutinho, leads to a discussion on the subject of artistic space that is essentially based on “the visual expression of lust.”

“Tunga” [Antonio José de Barros Carvalho e Mello Mourão] (1952–2016) was a major contemporary Brazilian artist who started his career in the late 1960s. In the 1970s he had two exhibitions at the MAM-RJ (Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, 1974 and 1975); his most recent one was at the Museum’s Sala Experimental. Created by FUNARTE [Fundação Nacional da Arte], the Espaço ABC was active in the early 1980s, when it was responsible for organizing memorable exhibitions of experimental Brazilian art. It contributed to a historic, more consistent reading of the works of a variety of artists, including Antonio Manuel, Tunga, Milton Machado, and Carlos Zílio. The Espaço established a relationship with the Coleção ABC (Arte Brasileira Contemporânea, also part of FUNARTE), which published slim volumes on the works of the most important Brazilian artists of the period, such as: Antonio Dias, Lygia Clark, Lygia Pape, Carlos Vergara, Rubens Gerchman, Artur Barrio, Cildo Meireles, and Anna Bella Geiger, among others. Wilson Coutinho was a distinguished critic in the late twentieth century, from 1980 to 2003.

[For more on Tunga, see the following articles in the ICAA digital archive: by Wilson Countinho et al. “Os obscuros objetos do prazer” (doc. no. 1111081); and by Magno M. D. “Tunga: os outros nomes do zero ou as metonímias do um” (doc. no. 1110603)].