Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

The Argentinean professor Damián Bayón reviews Frente a la máquina, the exhibition presented at the Maison de L’Amérique Latine. He reports that there are plans to organize regular exhibitions of works by Latin [...]

In this interview, Margarita D’Amico asks Carlos Cruz-Diez about working in urban spaces and using contemporary languages and techniques. The journalist begins her article on a subject of fundamental importance: the artist’s international [...]

This newspaper article is about an interview with the director of the Museo de Arte Moderno de México, Fernando Gamboa, on the subject of the exhibition that Carlos Cruz-Diez opened in Mexico City as part of a cultural exchange between Mexico [...]

In this theoretical text, the visual artist Carlos Cruz-Diez discusses the origin and objectives of his Laberintos de cromosaturación (Chromosaturation Labyrinths). The fundamental idea behind this work involves the viewer’s chromatic [...]

Teresa Alvarenga (a cultural journalist) reviews the opening to the public of the Sala Cruz-Diez, located in the CADAFE building in Caracas. She describes the overall layout of the salon and the works on display, which were made at the workshop [...]

This short, anonymous newspaper article informs its readers about the solo exhibition of works by Carlos Cruz-Diez scheduled to open on November 17, 1971, at the New York premises of the Denise René Gallery. It states that the artist will show [...]

The critic Roberto Guevara discusses the exhibition presented at the Galería Conkright in Caracas, paying particular attention to the room devoted to Carlos Cruz-Diez and his Colores aditivos (Additive Colors). The article concentrates mainly [...]

This is a review of the work that Carlos Cruz-Diez presented at Art dans la rue (Art in the Street), the event organized by Frank Popper for the Centre National d’Art Contemporain (December 1969). The Venezuelan artist showed his Labyrinthe de [...]

This anonymous article provides a brief review of the exhibition schedule that the Venezuelan artist, curator, and museologist, Miguel Arroyo, who at the time was the director of the Museo de Bellas Artes de Caracas, is organizing. The curator’ [...]

The writer of this article fluctuates between his feelings for traditional forms of painting and his admiration for contemporary trends. Rafael Cordero says that being a devotee of painting is not a virtue but in fact is almost a sin, given the [...]

This is an anonymous review of the retrospective exhibition of Cruz-Diez’s work at the Signals gallery in London in 1965. The reviewer notes a constant quality in Venezuelan painting—“clarity, order, and a distinct gentleness&rdquo [...]

Francisco Díaz Roncero—who wrote this review of the second exhibition, Mouvement 2, organized by the Galerie Denise René in Paris that included the works of Kinetic artists—stresses the current influence and presence of [...]

Alberto Junyent reviews the fourth exhibition of La Nouvelle Tendance at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, in Paris, an event in which Carlos Cruz-Diez participated. The reviewer informs his readers that, in the twentieth century, “ [...]

In this article, published in the newspaper El Nacional, Carlos Cruz-Diez reviews the Exposición Internacional de Arte Cinético at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, which was jointly curated by Daniel Spoerri and Pontus Hulten. Cruz- [...]

This is art critic and journalist Ratto-Ciarlo’s review of the latest Cruz-Diez exhibition that also mentions the trip to Europe the artist will be taking in 1955 after the close of his show. Their conversation focuses on the creation of a [...]

This newspaper review describes certain aspects of the XIII Salón Oficial de Arte Venezolano. It notes that there was “an open, liberal eclecticism” with various mediums (painting, sculpture, and ceramics) shown side by side. This [...]

This short newspaper review about the prizegiving at the XIII Salón de Arte Venezolano (1952) names the winners (one of whom was the young Carlos Cruz-Diez), the members of the jury, and the dignitaries who presented the awards (the Venezuelan [...]

In this short newspaper review of the XI Salón de Arte Venezolano, the critic Rafael Pineda quotes from conversations he had with some of the young artists mentioned by the jury, including Mario Abreu, Lourdes Armas, Alirio Oramas, and R& [...]

In this newspaper article, Manuel Trujillo provides a critical review of the exhibition of works by the young Carlos Cruz-Diez at the Centro Venezolano-Americano de Caracas, which ran from late 1947 to early 1948; this was the artist’s first [...]

This exhibition essay by Julia P. Herzberg reviews the artistic trajectory of Venezuelan artist Nela Ochoa (b. 1953), whose current work is inspired by the medical sciences. Since the 1990s, she has mainly focused on the body, genetics, and [...]

In this interview with Iván Navarro, Julia P. Herzberg poses questions about process and materials, the use of electricity, and art historical influences on his work from the 1990s to the 2000s. Navarro’s Blade Runner series (2004), [...]

Written for Iván Navarro’s midcareer exhibition, this essay explores his early work from the 1990s to the 2000s, enabling us to understand his evolution over time. Growing up in Chile during the Augusto Pinochet regime (1973–90), [...]

This text, included in an exhibition catalogue for artist Carlos Alfonzo, is a transcription of a conversation between Alfonzo and his friend César Trasobares. The interview was videotaped by Alfonzo’s friend Craig Robins in November [...]

This exhibition essay by guest curator Julia P. Herzberg addresses two major long-term projects by Leandro Katz. The Catherwood Project (1985–1995, 2001) is a photographic reconstruction of the two mid-nineteenth century expeditions of John [...]

This exhibition essay discusses three interrelated artistic works by Raquel Rabinovich: the Pabhavikas series, the Emergences series, and the Riverbed Library series. It details how she brings together the creative and perceptive mindset of her [...]

This exhibition essay discusses several Central American and Caribbean artists who draw on rituals in their performative works, including Ernesto Pujol, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, José Bedia, Pepón Osorio, Tania Bruguera, [...]

This exhibition essay discusses the Chilean artist Catalina Parra’s collages on view in the exhibition Catalina Parra: It’s Indisputable. It includes seven series with seventy works, which comprise collages made of newspaper clippings [...]

These exhibition notes explain RISD’s (Rhode Island School of Art and Design) Art ConText series and artist Pepón Osorio’s work Transboricua. These socially engaged installations originate from his past experiences as a social [...]

This exhibition brochure, written by guest curator Julia P. Herzberg, explains the ideas behind Leandro Erlich’s installation Neighbors. The brochure contains her curatorial statement and a brief artist’s biography. It describes Neighbors [...]

This exhibition essay charts Ana Mendieta’s artistic trajectory between 1970 and 1980, including her tenure at the University of Iowa (where she completed two master’s degrees: one in painting and one in intermedia), her time in Mexico, [...]

This exhibition essay by adjunct curator Julia Herzberg on artist Magdalena Fernández’s video installation 2iPM009 (2009) intends to broaden our understanding of the Venezuelan artist’s concepts, processes, sources, and development [...]

This exhibition brochure by guest curator Julia P. Herzberg describes several works included in A Town Portrait, with an eponymous installation and two photographic series, When I Am Not Here/Estoy allá (1996) and Abridor de caminos (1997). [...]

This essay by Julia Herzberg overviews Carlos Alfonzo’s artistic trajectory from 1982 to 1991, outlining the biographical details of his life and analyzing multiple artworks included in the exhibition. Working mainly in a Neo-Expressionist [...]

Curator Julia Herzberg’s exhibition essay for The Decade Show: Frameworks of Identity in the 1980s explores the construct of “identity” in the art of the 1980s. It discusses the twenty-five Hispanic, Latino, Chicano, Latin American [...]

This exhibition essay by Julia P. Herzberg explains and describes two installations by Josely Carvalho: It’s Still a Time to Mourn: Dia Mater I and Tempos de Luto: Dia Mater II (both 1993). Both works are part of the larger series It’s [...]

This foldout pamphlet for the III Bienal Internacional de Pintura in Cuenca, Ecuador, discusses the six artists of Latin American and Caribbean descent included in the biennial’s U.S. representation. The curatorial introduction by Julia P. [...]

This exhibition brochure, written by consulting curator Julia P. Herzberg, addresses Ernesto Pujol’s installation Conversion of Manners. The title comes from a Benedictine vow that Catholic monks take when they leave secular life and enter [...]

Written by guest curator Julia P. Herzberg, this exhibition leaflet explains the ideas behind Ernesto Pujol’s installation American Fields. This Cuban artist’s work comprises a wooden table, a metal chair, and cast-aluminum corn cobs, as [...]

This exhibition essay overviews the trajectory of Arturo Cuenca’s photographic practice from his time spent in Cuba in the 1980s until his arrival in New York in the early 1990s. In the late 1970s, he transitioned from making Photorealist/Pop [...]

In this interview, art critic Marta Traba poses ten questions to Colombian artist Beatriz González. Traba begins by inquiring about the ironic nature of González’s subjects and the kitschy character of the objects she produces. In [...]

Journalist Alfonso Bonilla Aragón writes a review of a solo exhibition of the artist Beatriz González, which took place at the Museo La Tertulia in Cali, Colombia, in 1965. The show encompassed three bodies of work: nine oil paintings [...]

The writer Salvador Garmendia reviews the exhibition of photographs by Daniel González; he describes the methodology of the mobile photography that treats the street as its own laboratory, in constant communication with chance. In his images, [...]

The flier’s cover is illustrated with a work of geometric abstraction (with no mention of the painter’s name), but includes no title for the event. The eleventh edition of the salão paulista de arte moderna, organized by the state [...]

The country was awash in optimism that year, when Brasília was officially declared the new capital city. The tenth edition of the salão paulista de arte moderna was held at the Galería Prestes Maia, organized on this occasion by [...]

The ninth edition of the salão paulista de arte moderna (still written in lowercase letters) was held in June 1960 at the usual venue, the Galeria Prestes Maia de São Paulo. The flier carries over many elements from the previous year& [...]

The flier for the eighth edition of the salão paulista de arte moderna has been redesigned and relies mainly on lowercase letters, double-page spreads, and a simple cover design. Willys de Castro is a member of the jury responsible for the [...]

This flier, which announces the seventh edition of the Salão Paulista de Arte Moderna, has an excellent minimalist design on the cover. The (ordinal) “ o ” becomes one of the squares in the black and yellow composition, which uses [...]

After President Getúlio Vargas committed suicide in August 1954, Brazil embarked on a program of renewal focused on two basic areas: industrialization and development. The democratically elected government of Juscelino Kubitschek (1956-1960) [...]

In 1956, what proved to be a critical year in Brazilian art circles, the first Concrete art exhibitions were organized at a national level. But this development had no impact at all in terms of the participants or the type of works presented at the [...]

This is the official flier for the fourth edition of the Salão Paulista de Arte Moderna, organized by the Secretaria do Governo do Estado de São Paulo at the Galeria Prestes Maia in 1955. The organizing committee was headed by two well- [...]