This text was originally published as an insert/proposal/catalogue for the Exposição de Antonio Manuel (de 0 a 24 horas em todas as bancas de jornais), an exhibition presented in 1973. On this occasion, the conceptual artist Pignatari wrote for a major Rio de Janeiro newspaper where he published his work just a short distance from the nocturnal government censor.
Décio Pignatari (1927–2012) had been one of the major artists in Brazil since the 1950s; he introduced a new form of highly visual poetry, most notably in the 1961 “Manifesto de Poesia Concreta,” co-written with the brothers Augusto and Haroldo de Campos. In addition to his work in advertising and radical art criticism, Pignatari was one of the pioneers of semiotic studies in Brazil. His thesis on Charles Sanders-Peirce’s theory was published as “Por um pensamento icônico: semiótica da arte e do ambiente urbano” (FAU-USP, 1979). A communication theorist, he translated works by Marshall McLuhan. His creative translations included classical works by Dante, Goethe, and Shakespeare.
[Please refer to the ICAA digital archive for the following texts on the subject: published in Noigandres by Augusto de Campos, Décio Pignatari, and Haroldo de Campos, “Plano-pilôto para poesia concreta” (doc. no. 1090135); and published in the A & D magazine by Décio Pignatari, “Arte concreta: objeto e objetivo” (doc. no. 1087349), and “Forma, função e projeto geral” (doc. no. 1090070)].
[On the subject of concrete aesthetics and subsequent approaches, see “O problema social na arquitetura,” by Oscar Niemeyer (doc. no. 1110341); by Waldemar Cordeiro, “O objeto” (doc. no. 1086891), and “Teoria e prática do concretismo carioca” (doc. no. 1087287); by Theon Spanudis, “A pintura de Alfredo Volpi” (doc. no. 1085614), and “A pintura de José Antonio da Silva” (doc. no. 1110357); by Augusto de Campos, “Poesia concreta” (doc. no. 1090169); and by Eduardo Corona, “O testamento tripartido de Max Bill” (doc. no. 1110330)].
The artist Antonio Manuel, who was born in Avelãs de Caminho, Portugal in 1947, was a major figure in the Brazilian art scene in the late 1960s whose highly participative work was not only political but, given the circumstances, even subversive. In this regard, it is necessary to highlight his series called “flans” (crème caramel, that is, linotype molds altered in spite of the newspaper’s night censors, containing scathing messages of humor and criticism of life under the Brazilian dictatorship) such as “Eis o saldo” [Here is what resulted from all this]. For the Salão Nacional in 1970, he presented his own naked body as a work of art on the first day of the event that had rejected him. He also produced a series of short films at the time.
[As complementary reading, see the following texts on this artist: by Antonio Manuel, “Bode; A exposição de Antônio Manuel de zero às 24 horas nas bancas de jornais” (doc. no. 1110565), and “Exposição de Antonio Manuel (de zero às 24 horas nas bancas de jornais)” (doc. no. 1111096); “A arte abrange tudo. É uma experiência vital,” by Francisco Bittencourt and Manuel (doc. no. 1111094); and “Urnas quentes de Antonio Manuel,” by Hélio Oiticica (doc. no. 1280644)].
