This programmatic statement by the Grupo Arte Nuevo was included in the catalogue for their second exhibition, which ran from October to November 1966 at the MALI (Museo de Arte de Lima). Faced with “a world molded by the dramatic evolution of science and technology,” the group warns against the risks of a “distortion” of artistic creativity that would mean “rejecting the rebellious, renovating spirit that inspires every artist.” The group proposes “being reborn, becoming children again” as a way to be free of society’s values and taboos in order to “take advantage of the copious possibilities of the artistic process.” This approach is grounded in a focus on “the materiality of color, the elementary nature of objects and forms, and the reality of everyday events.” They encourage the viewer to freely partake of that spirit.

As a result of the interest stirred up in October 1966 by the first exhibition organized by the Grupo Arte Nuevo—one of the first groups in the Peruvian avant-garde—their works were installed in the prestigious MALI (Museo de Arte de Lima). In its original version, the exhibition was intended as a protest against the exclusion of many young artists from the Festival Americano de Pintura that was held in October-November of that same year.

The following artists were originally members of the Grupo Señal and went on to form the Arte Nuevo group: Luis Arias Vera (1932–2016), Gloria Gómez-Sánchez (1921–2007), Teresa Burga (1935–2021), Jaime Dávila (b. 1937), Víctor Delfín (b. 1927), Emilio Hernández Saavedra (b. 1940), José Tang (1941–2006), Armando Varela (b. 1933), and Luis Zevallos Hetzel (b. 1933). They started out by installing their works of art in an abandoned illuminated sign store in the historical center of Lima—just a few meters from the Plaza Mayor and the government palace—which they transformed into an improvised gallery they called El ombligo de Adán. This exhibition, which included plenty of Pop Art, Op Art, and environmental installations, was an important step for new Peruvian art movements, especially in terms of its challenge to so-called “traditional” art. When their works were presented under MALI’s institutional umbrella, the members of Arte Nuevo took advantage of the situation to publish this programmatic statement in the exhibition catalogue.   

[On the subject of the Grupo Arte Nuevo, see the following articles in the ICAA digital archive: by Luis Freire “De cómo el Gral. Velasco reventó el ‘¡Pop! Art’” (doc. no. 1139323); by Juan Acha “Espíritu renovador: exposición del Grupo “Arte Nuevo’” (doc. no. 1142771); (anonymous) “Exagerado sentido realista: Exposición de Luis Arias Vera” (doc. no. 1142510); by Mario Belaúnde Guinassi (under the pseudonym “Juan Gris”) “La nueva imagen del IAC” (doc. no. 1142594); by Felipe Buendía “Mala noche de Buendía” (doc. no. 1142628) and “Resentido social” (doc. no. 1142644); by the Grupo Arte Nuevo (untitled) [“Nos encontramos en un mundo determinado...”] (doc. no. 1142834); (anonymous) “Op-Pop-Sex” (doc. no. 1142804); and (anonymous) “Treinta minutos de charla con la señora Gloria Benvenuto de Gómez Sánchez, nuevo valor de la Pintura Nacional” (doc. no. 1142413)].