The well-known Brazilian art critic Frederico Morais comments on the atmosphere evident at the exhibition Como vai você, Geração 80?, which opened at the Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage in Rio de Janeiro. The article was published one month after the show opened. Among other aspects, the writer points out the proportion of participating artists based on their geographic origin; there was only one artist from northern Brazil, with the majority working in Rio de Janeiro. So Morais was sympathetic to the criticism by one of the artists, Sergio Romagnolo, who asked: “Am I participating in a Brazilian event or a Rio de Janeiro event?” To Morais, the more important question to ask is: “What is Geração 80?” He goes on to compare these artists with those of the 1970s and to write a social profile of the two decades: these young painters come from the middle class. The critic accords importance to the painter Luiz Áquila and praises “the pleasure he derives from painting.” In addition, he characterizes the paintings as eclectic and notes that figurative art prevails in the exhibition. Morais quotes the testimony of Armando Mattos, to whom “the main characteristic of the Geração 80 is happiness.” Meanwhile, critics and curators such as Marcus de Lontra and Sandra Magger were convinced that “this new generation hates to read, and has little interest in excessive theorizing.” The text has an addendum: “Stand 320: a nova pintura brasileira,” which provides formal and stylistic data on the participants.

The 1984 exhibition Como vai você, Geração 80?, held at the building that housed the Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage in Rio de Janeiro, was curated by Marcus de Lontra Costa (b. 1954), Paulo Roberto Leal (1946–1991) and Sandra Magger. By bringing together 123 artists, over time, this show would come to be seen as a milestone for the Geração 80, setting forth a clear idea of the trend known as “return to painting.” 

Frederico Morais (b. 1936) is one of the outstanding personalities among art critics in Brazil. For many years, he worked as an art critic/journalist for the Diário de Notícias and O Globo, both in Rio de Janeiro. Morais was one of the most active “committed” critics in the 1960s and 1970s, supporting various avant-garde movements and exhibitions during that period as well as serving as a curator for some of them.

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 Xavier de Mendonça in his text “Trânsito livre: a novíssima geração chega finalmente aos museus,” in the catálogue A pintura como meio (MAC-USP, 1983).