This account of the disbandment of the Grupo Rex asserts that the primordial aim of the São Paulo-based group was to say things that had never been said before, to criticize attitudes beset with bad faith, and to encourage the work of young generations. The text comments on the group’s playful and humorous tone. The author believes that the group’s work has come to an end because São Paulo is “a desert.” The Caramuru Indian, Bishop Sardinha from colonial times, Emperor Dom Pedro I, and modern artist Flávio de Carvalho are cited as precedents for the group’s events and happenings, as is the happening created by Wesley Duke Lee in 1963. The text looks back at the events that led to the group’s formation and remarks on some of its activities and shows. It asserts that the group was largely neglected by art critics and by the viewing public, which meant its work did not sell. In closing, the text comments on the gap between artists and the general public.  

Though unsigned, this text may have been written by journalist Thomaz Souto Corrêa, author of an earlier text entitled “Aviso: é a Guerra” that makes use of similar terms. It provides an overview of the activities and aims, accomplishments and frustrations, of the Grupo Rex, a short-lived art group based in São Paulo.

Founded in 1966 by Brazilian artists Wesley Duke Lee (1931–2010), Geraldo de Barros (1923–98), Nelson Leirner (b. 1932), Carlos Fajardo (b. 1941), Luiz Paulo Baravelli (b. 1942), and  Frederico Nasser (b. 1942), the polemic Grupo Rex was critical of the art scene. It both ran a gallery, Rex Gallery & Sons, and put out a newsletter, Rex Time. In addition to the five shows the group held and the five newsletters it released, it engaged in other cultural activities, including organizing a lecture by sculptor Flávio de Carvalho.

The group disbanded and the gallery closed in 1967 with an event or happening organized by Leirner entitled “O encerramento do grupo e da galeria se dá em 1967 com o evento, considerado um happening, ‘Exposição não exposição’” [Non-Exhibition Exhibition]. 

The likely author of this text is journalist Thomaz Souto Corrêa (b.  1938). He was the editor of a number of São Paulo-based magazines before becoming the vice-president of Editora Abril, a major publishing house in Brazil. “Aviso: é a guerra” [doc. no. 1111032], also by Corrêa, comments on the cessation of the Grupo Rex’s activities. See as well the anonymous text “O fechamento duma galeria paulista: Rex: bandeira arriada” [doc. no. 1111185].