This excerpt from the landmark text, Antiestética, was penned by Argentine artist and author Luis Felipe Noé. This work famously problematized the polarizing relationship between nationalist and avant-garde art movements in Latin America. Written in 1965, Noé elaborated his theories of chaos, making the powerful claim that “the purpose of anti-aesthetics today is to split the concept of unity.” The intellectual framework that Noé puts forth in this manifesto can be seen as the basis for his involvement in the Otra Figuration [Another Figuration] and Neofiguration [New Figuration] movements. In Chapter IX, Noé addressed what he calls the “taboo” issue of nationalism and artistic production. He argues that the oppositional stance of the avant-garde and “authentic” folkloristic art camps is absurd, as both are inherently the product of cultural imaginaries. Contemplating both capitalist and communist economic systems, the author takes special note of the role of materialism and spirituality in artistic and cultural production. Noé critiques the propensity of South America to view itself as culturally dependent on Europe and North America. In examining Latin America’s relationship to the West as an underdeveloped nation, Noé ultimately argues that the only way the young continent can hope to create a truly “authentic” art is by constantly seeking freedom and acknowledging the ever-present force of chaos. 

Luis Felipe Noé (b. 1933) is an influential Argentine artist, author, educator, and intellectual from Buenos Aires. Actively involved in the art world in both North and South America, he is widely recognized as the founder of the Otra Figuration [Another Figuration] movement in 1961, and later was a powerful influence in the Neofiguration [New Figuration] movement. He briefly studied painting under Horacio Butler from 1950–52, before receiving a degree in law and working as an art critic and journalist, when he wrote for periodicals such as El Mundo and La Prensa. His career as a visual artist was launched at his first opening at the Galeria Witcomb in 1959. His work was influenced by fellow Argentine artists Sarah Grilo and José Antonio Fernández-Muro, as well as Antonio Berni and the Boa group. His oeuvre, along with that of the Otra Figuration movement, emphasizes the reality of chaos in its kinetic style, representation of distorted figures and animals, and allusions to politics. Noé is recognized as a pioneer in experimental drawing, and his desire to visually link social dislocation with structural dislocation. In 1965, he published a landmark theoretical text, known as Antiestética [Anti-aesthetics], a chapter of which is reproduced in this online archive.