This is a report on the opening of the exhibition Os artistas pelas Diretas at the entranceway of the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper facilities in February 1984. The management of the newspaper, in conjunction with various artists, conceived the exhibition in support of the nationwide civil campaign Diretas Já!, which boldly pressed for the return of a “direct vote” for the presidential elections after having “already” gone through two decades of military dictatorship (1964–85).  Included in the report were statements made by Mário Covas, the mayor of the city of São Paulo, and by the actor Raul Cortez, among many others. It was reported that due to the success obtained by the exhibition, the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo would be willing to expand its support and would receive any work by other Brazilian artists who also wished to participate in the exhibition by sending their works to the newspaper. In such circumstances, the exhibition would then be titled Artistas brasileiros pelas Diretas.

The article on Os artistas pelas Diretas considered this exhibition important as it politically represented the stance of the Brazilian contemporary artists by their “committed” participation for the re-establishment of constitutional legality in Brazil—through direct elections for the Presidency of the nation—given that, since the coup d’état of March 1964, the country had been immersed in all kinds of abuses and atrocities suffered by the people. The exhibition brought together the works by artists such as Darcy Penteado, Cláudio Tozzi, Mário Gruber, Marcello Nitsche, Alex Flemming, Luís Paulo Baravelli, Guto Lacaz, Rubens Gerchman, Dudi Maia Rosa, Glauco Pinto de Moraes, Antonio Henrique Amaral, João Câmara Filho, Ivald Granato, Carlos Lemos, Thomaz Ianelli and Gregório. The purpose was to unconditionally support the popular movement of the Diretas Já!,and to have the capability of bringing together various sectors of the Brazilian society into their struggle for the re-democratization of the country. This campaign culminated, in the case of São Paulo, with a million and a half people participating in an election that took place in April 1984; that is, two months after the opening of the exhibition.