In this article the critic Marcus Lontra Costa talks about the painter Luiz Áquila. Lontra begins with a discussion of the “spiritual” conditions involved in the so-called “return to painting” movement of the 1980s. According to the author, the concept is a paean to pleasure that replaces the inscrutability of the previous decade in which theories about the “death of art” ran out of steam, giving way to a confrontation between the painter and History. “Painting is a process, to veil and to reveal, to bleed space and counter attack to repair History,” says Lontra, who thinks that organized movements are a thing of the past. “The return to painting” rekindles the importance of the actual making of the work of art as opposed to the emphasis on conceptual intellectualism. Later in his essay, the critic focuses on Luiz Áquila’s work, which he describes as the “distinguished representative” of painting; it undoubtedly helps to reclaim the history of art and realign it with its “historic and sensitive role.” In Áquila’s work, according to Lontra, the artist has eliminated the barriers that separate gesture from construction, emotion from rationality, and order from chaos. The article is a tireless defense of hedonism applied to painting.   

Luiz Áquila was one of the leading figures in the so-called “return to painting” movement in Brazil in the 1980s, which mainly took place in Rio de Janeiro, not just because of his painting but also because of his involvement in the academic world of the Escola de Artes Visuais del Parque Lage (also in Rio de Janeiro).

Marcus de Lontra Costa made a name for himself as a critic and curator in the Brazilian art world during that same decade in the movement that enjoyed international support via a number of different art galleries. He was among the critics who gained a measure of fame as a result of their tireless promotion of the Geração ’80, the 80s Generation. The following year (1984) Lontra was one of the organizers of the exhibition Como vai você, Geração 80?

[See other articles about the “return to painting” by Lontra in the ICAA digital archive, as follows: “A essência do prazer” (doc. no. 1110982); and “Cláudio Fonseca: justiça e verdade” (doc. no. 1110941)].

[On the subject of that period in Brazil, see the following key articles: 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); by Roberto Pontual Explode Geração (Rio de Janeiro: Avenir, 1984) (doc. no. 1110991); and by Frederico Morais “Gute Nacht Herr Baselitz ou Hélio Oiticica onde está você?” (doc. no. 1110957)].