In this text, the art critic Wilson Coutinho comments on the eruption of a special moment in the Brazilian art world, starting with the exhibition Como vai você, Geração 80?,held at the Escola de Artes Visuais del Parque Lage (Rio de Janeiro, 1984). Without reviewing any of the specific artists, the writer covers general aspects such as generational differences and the need to recognize the new artists associated with Postmodernism, in countries with major art centers as well as in Brazil. At the same time, Coutinho believes that there have been episodes of repetition and false beginnings in the Brazilian art world that have almost always generated a measure of artificiality both in the market and in the local art world itself.

At the generational level, the paradigmatic exhibition of the 1980s in Brazil, Como vai você, Geração 80?, reflected the curatorial perspective of Marcus de Lontra Costa, Paulo Roberto Leal, and Sandra Mager. Held in the buildings of the Escola de Artes Visuais del Parque Lage (Rio de Janeiro, 1984), the event brought together [the work of] 123 artists. Most of these artists were working within the dictates (more commercial than artistic) of the trend internationally known as the “return to painting.” This reflected what was happening with the historic [work of the] avant-garde and their tireless experimentation, since in postwar Europe, there was another retro art movement known as the Retour à l’ordre.

The critic and curator Wilson Coutinho established his base of operations around Rio de Janeiro, producing a distinguished body of work between 1980 and 2003.

[As supplementary reading, see the following texts in the ICAA digital archive: by Frederico Morais, “Gute Nacht Herr Baselitz, ou Helio Oiticica, onde está você?” (doc. no. 1110957); by Jorge Guinle Filho, “Papai era surfista profissional, mamãe fazia mapa astral legal. ‘Geração 80” ou como matei uma aula de arte num shopping center” (doc. no. 1110971); and by Roberto Pontual, “Explode Geração” (doc. no. 1110991)].