In this lecture, the painter Alirio Rodríguez pushes back against the critics’ constant harping on “Latin American” art and a distinctive “Latin Americanism in painting.” He identifies some of the contradictions he sees in that line of thinking, and suggests how this apparent obsession affects their criticism. He thinks Latin American art is an evident “fact” and that its criticism should follow suit. Rodríguez points out “the sterility” of that argument—an inevitable subject in any discussion—and the cyclical nature of that idea. In his opinion, it has more to do with “marketing” interests endorsed by a “banner-style” of “para-criticism” which “questions values and later sponsors their salvation.” 

The talk given by the painter Alirio Rodríguez (b. 1934) stood out from the other speeches at the 1978 Primer Encuentro Iberoamericano de Críticos de Arte y Artistas Plásticos held at the Museo de Bellas Artes de Caracas. In the first place, it involved the critical and controversial opinion of a painter (not a critic) concerning the concept and the definition of “Latin American,” considering that very few artists participated in the panels at the event. In the second place, it claimed to be a summary and review of the other speeches, written and read by the artist after he had heard the other speakers. The fact that Rodríguez (who was simply attending the event) decided to intervene indicates the level of interest the debate prompted among the Venezuelan public. His remarks, in fact, stood out from those delivered by other artists and caught the attention of the event as a whole because of the solidity and originality of what he had to say.   

In addition to the North American art historian and professor Jacqueline Barnitz, there were other important figures in attendance, such as Jorge Alberto Manrique, Ida Rodríguez Prampolini, and Berta Taracena (Mexico), Jorge Glusberg and Antonio Berni (Argentina), Juan Acha (Peru, but living in Mexico), Julio Le Parc (Argentina, living in Paris), Adelaida de Juan (Cuba), Carlos Rodríguez Saavedra and Élida Román (Peru), Galaor Carbonell (Cuba, living in Colombia), Marco Miliani, Alirio Rodríguez and Roberto Montero Castro (Venezuela), Carlos Areán (Spain), Marta Traba (Argentina, living in Colombia), Roberto Pontual and Aracy A. Amaral (Brazil).

An important forerunner to this event was the “Austin Symposium” organized by Damián Carlos Bayón under the auspices of the University of Texas at Austin in late October 1975, which was attended by many of those who were later at the 1978 Encuentro. By then, the book concerning the earlier event had already been published in Venezuelaby Damián C. Bayón (narrator): El artista latinoamericano y su identidad (Caracas: Monte Avila Editores; Colección Estudios, 1977). [See the ICAA digital archive to read the lectures given by Acha (doc. no. 1065080), by Amaral (doc. no. 776786), and by Traba (doc. no. 1065742)]. They were published in Chapter IV.4 “Debating Identity on a Continental Scale” of the book Resisting Categories: Latin American and/or Latino? compiled and organized by Héctor Olea, Mari Carmen Ramírez, and Tomás Ybarra-Frausto in the Critical Documents of 20th-Century Latin American and Latino Art series (Houston: The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston / International Center for the Arts of the Americas, 2012).

[See also the lectures delivered at the Primer Encuentro Iberoamericano de Críticos de Arte y Artistas Plásticos in 1978: by Élida Román (doc. no. 815617); Berta Taracena (doc. no. 815558); Juan Acha (doc. no. 815489); Marta Traba (doc. no. 815744); Jorge Glusberg (doc. no. 815475); Roberto Montero Castro (doc. no. 815631); Galaor Carbonell (doc. no. 815603); Carlos Areán (doc. no. 815730); Julio Le Parc (doc. no. 815575); Adelaida de Juan (doc. no. 815544); Ida Rodríguez Prampolini (doc. no. 815758); Antonio Berni (doc. no. 815659); Marta Arjona (doc. no. 850349); Jacqueline Barnitz (doc. no. 815530); and the summary of the participants’ work written by Donald B. Goodall (doc. no. 850368)].