Kenneth Kemble (Buenos Aires, 1923–1998) was one of the principal artists in the Informalist movement in Argentina. Beginning in 1956, Kemble experimented with collages, assemblages, reliefs, informal paintings, and signs. Kemble frequently participated in the exhibitions of the Asociación Arte Nuevo, a hotbed for abstract art. In 1959, Kemble was part of the exhibition Movimiento Informal at the Galería Van Riel. In 1961, the artist was the motivating force behind a show that presented “destructive art.” Kemble also worked as an art critic, principally between 1960 and 1963 at the Buenos Aires Herald (a newspaper for the British community in Buenos Aires, founded in 1876). In the following decades, he continued his reflective work with an emphasis on the theory of the creative process.
This document is part of collection that refers to the show of Destructive Art that was held at the Galería Lirolay, from November 20–30, 1961. Kenneth Kemble, Luis Alberto Wells (1931), Enrique Barilari (1937–2002), Silvia Torrás (1936–1973), Jorge López Anaya (1936), Jorge Roiger (1934), and Antonio Seguí (1934) participated. This exhibition was a crucial moment within the course of the 1960s Argentinean art.
The import of the presented document lies in the forceful negative critique from Enrique Azcoaga (Madrid, 1912–1985), art critic and Spanish poet exiled in Argentina during the Spanish Civil War. He returned to Madrid in the 1960s.