In this newspaper article, the Venezuelan artist Alirio Palacios (b. 1944) discusses the crisis at the Centro INCE (Instituto Nacional de Cooperación Educativa) de Diseño in an interview with Lenelina Delgado. This is an important article because there is very little information available about the development of instruction in the graphic arts in Venezuela. It is also important because it reports on a critical period at the Institute, which was founded in 1965 and had functioned since then as the only school providing any sort of formal training in the graphic arts. Instituto de Diseño Caracas was jointly founded by the Fundación Neumann and INCE, and in its early years provided a place where students could do more than just learn the trade; they could actually have hands-on experience doing artistic work. Delgado’s interview indicates that INCE and the Fundación Neumann had separated by that time, and the gist of the article can be complemented by the remarks made by the Venezuelan critic Roberto Guevara (1932–98) in two other articles: “…A causa del CEGRA,” at the Galería de Arte Nacional, Sendero en el papel (Caracas: GAN, 1979), and “El CEGRA, cinco años después,” at the Sala de Exposiciones (Caracas: CANTV, 1982). Delgado also documents an important fact, which is that the artist and graphic designer John Lange (b. 1932) resigned from his position as director of the school; she also reports on the rampant dissatisfaction among the instructors at the Centro INCE de Diseño at that critical time.
For further information on this subject, see the article by the writer Igor Molina “Alirio Palacios: El arte de la violencia,” which describes the artist’s training in the art of printmaking in Poland and China [doc. no. 1155701]; the articles by Olga González “Mezzotintas de Alirio Palacios: El final del aprendizaje gráfico” [doc. no. 1156997], and “Regresa a su país uno de los grabadores más importantes de América Latina” [doc. no. 1155203]; Edith Guzmán’s report of her interview with the artist, “Alirio Palacios se propone rescatar el grabado milenario de la China” [doc. no. 1155809]; the article by Julie Kruger “There’s another China” [doc. no. 1155219]; and the article by Yasmín Monsalve “Soy un gran aliado de mi país: Alirio Palacios expone xilografías en la Freites” [doc. no. 1155733]. As regards the critical essays by Roberto Guevara about the teaching of graphic arts, see the essay in the catalogue for the exhibition by the same name, “El CEGRA, cinco años después” [doc. no. 1153429] and “A causa del CEGRA” [doc. no. 1142060].
