Valtércio Caldas got his start in the Brazilian art world in the late 1960s when he took part in the Salão da Bússola [Compass Salon], a landmark exhibition at the MAM-RJ (Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro). In the 1970s he was a regular contributor to Malasartes magazine. This article was one of the first attempts to analyze his work.
Roberto [Gonçalves] Pontual (1939–94) was one of the most prominent and active critics in the Rio de Janeiro art world in the 1970s. He also curated important exhibitions at the MAM-RJ during that period. In the 1980s he was among those who provided boundless support for the members of the “Geração ‘80” in his book Explode Geração!
[For additional information, see the following texts in the ICAA digital archive: by Roberto Pontual Explode Geração (Rio de Janeiro: Avenir, 1984) (doc. no. 1110991), in which he sought to express his personal (and literary) point of view about Brazilian art in the 1980s, and discussed artists such as Mônica Nador and Ana Maria Tavares, in São Paulo, and Leda Catunda, Sérgio Romagnolo, and Beatriz Milhazes in Rio. See the manifesto in which he identifies with that generation in “Semana nacional de poesia de vanguarda: comunicado e conclusões” (doc. no. 1110501); and Ricardo Basbaum’s view on the subject in “Pintura dos anos 80: algumas observações críticas” (doc. no. 1110972). See also by Roberto Pontual “Corpos de afago e dor = Bodies of Caress and Pain” (doc. no. 1111211); “Crise da crise? A resposta também pode ser nossa” (doc. no. 1110986); “Do mundo, a América Latina. Entre as geometrias, a sensível” (doc. no. 771399); “Os dois Brasis” (doc. no. 1110617); “Em torno do sistema da arte” (doc. no. 1110554); “Expor: impor ou propor?” (doc. no. 1110954); “Imagens da imagem” (doc. no. 1110688); “A natureza reposta em arte” (doc. no. 1111359); “Notas sôbre a xilogravura popular brasileira” (doc. no. 1111031); “Um panorama brasileiro” (doc. no. 1110604); “O quase mago Roberto Magalhães” (doc. no. 1111080); and “Sistema de arte em questão: o que fazer?” (doc. no. 1111082)].
