After briefly training in Paris (1954–56), Alberto Greco (1931–65) settled in Brazil (1957–58), where he drew closer to the informalist aesthetics that he promoted later in Buenos Aires. In 1960, he exhibited his work at Galería Pizarro under the title Pinturas negras [Black Paintings] and, thereafter, in the Buenos Aires city center he positioned billboards featuring his name. In 1964, he settled in Madrid—he had been traveling throughout Europe since 1961—where he had produced works in tandem with Antonio Saura and Manolo Millares; in this manner, he continued both his informalist and conceptual experimentation, beginning in the late-1950s. During a brief return to Buenos Aires on December 9, he produced at Galería Bonino Mi Madrid querido, a performance piece from a genre he called Vivo-Dito [The Living-Finger], on this occasion with the participation of flamenco dancer Antonio Gades. The performance ended at the Plaza San Martín, a square in Buenos Aires downtown. Greco had previously incorporated girls in flamenco dress in his solo exhibition at Galería Juana Mordó in Madrid in the month of May. This was his last work in Argentina; he committed suicide in Madrid on October 12, 1965.
This document is of interest due to the negative position adopted by a modernizing critic such as Cayetano Córdova Iturburu (1902–1977), either regarding Alberto Greco’s conceptual works or the “show-painting” approach. Furthermore, it allows for the analysis of certain networks laid out for consensus building regarding the quality of the artist’s work. Córdova Iturburu’s fierce critique is, in turn, a thorough description of the action exhibited by Greco.