The point of departure for this text is the exhibition A pintura como meio, at the Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo (MAC-USP), held in 1983, curated by Aracy Amaral (b. 1930). This exhibition was a milestone in 1980s artwork and the much-talked-about “return to painting.” This was similar to the European movement advocating painting’s “retour à l’ordre,” a trend that followed the historical avant-garde movements there and dominated most of the decade. For an analysis of the Brazilian art milieu in this period written by Amaral, see her essay “Uma jovem pintura em São Paulo,” published in the book Pintura como meio (São Paulo: MAC USP, 1983) [see doc. no. 1111245].
Starting in the 1980s, Sérgio Romagnolo (b. 1957) began to stand out in Brazil’s contemporary art world; that is why he became involved with what was known as the “Geração 80.” As we might expect, this artist did not limit himself to the work called “return to painting;” instead, he investigated other media such as sculpture.
Leda Catunda (b. 1961) emerged on the art scene as a member of the Geração 80. From that time on, her work was notable in the field of Brazilian art for her themes: kitsch, women’s identity and painting.
Ciro Cozzolino (b. 1959) was an important artist in 1980s Brazil, with a body of work that emphasized the visual aspects of mass culture.
While Ana Maria Tavares (b. 1958) appeared in the same decade and created work that fit within the parameters of the trend known as return to painting, her work also had an experimental side. In subsequent decades, she turned to somatic themes that set a priority on conceptual issues such as those related to the body.
In the late 1970s, Sérgio Niculitcheff (b. 1960) began to support what would become the dominant trend, the return to painting. In the opinion of the art critic Tadeu Chiarelli, this artist’s paintings “almost always work with images/symbols understood as pure blocks of feelings (…), representing them and launching them into the evolution of that same history.”
Roberto Pontual wrote Explode Geração (Rio de Janeiro: Avenir, 1984), in which he seeks to fit his own personal perspective (including literary outlook) into the main trend of Brazilian art produced in the 1980s. The artists he features include Mónica Nador and Ana Maria Tavares in São Paulo; and Leda Catunda, Sérgio Romagnolo and Beatriz Milhazes in Rio. See the manifesto in which he identifies himself with that generation in “Semana nacional de poesia de vanguarda: comunicado e conclusões” [doc. no. 1110501]. For a complementary opinion, see Ricardo Basbaum’s focus in another essay on this subject entitled “Pintura dos anos 80: algumas observações críticas” [doc. no. 1110972].
Other art critics that wrote about their ideas on art throughout the 1980s include Jorge Guinle Filho in “Papai era surfista profissional, mamãe fazia mapa astral legal. ‘Geração 80’ ou como matei uma aula de arte num shopping center,” Módulo magazine (Rio de Janeiro, July 1984); Wilson Coutinho in “Festa e democracia no Parque Lage,” published in the book Imediações: a crítica de Wilson Coutinho (Rio de Janeiro: Funarte, 2008); Marcus de Lontra Costa in “A festa acabou? A festa continua,” Módulo magazine (Rio de Janeiro, May/June 1988); and Frederico Morais in his text “Gute Nacht Herr Baselitz ou Hélio Oiticica onde está você,” also in Módulo magazine (Rio de Janeiro, July 1988) [doc. no. 1110957].
