The article written by the curator and art critic Paulo Herkenhoff (b. 1949) allows us to follow the development of the work of Ivens Machado, rendered in the 1970s and 1980s. The path followed by Machado was an alternative to the trend known as “return to painting” deemed characteristic of that period. Today, Herkenhoff is internationally known as an art critic and curator and was even in charge of the 24th São Paulo Biennial in 1998. He began his work in 1975, in the Experimental Room at the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, one of the spaces set aside for avant-garde art created in that city. There was an exhibition of his own work, Exposição de Arte, held in the Experimental Room of MAM-Rio in 1975, in which he showed certain developments in performance art. For additional information, see “Exposição de arte” [doc. no. 1110618], and a joint text written by Herkenhoff, Machado and Geiger on the “Sala Experimental” [doc. no. 1110602].
In Brazil’s art world, Ivens Machado (1942?2015) began to stand out starting in the 1970s, with his exhibition at the Experimental Room at the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro (MAM-Rio). At the same time, he became involved with a circle of artists who were working in video art. His work was unquestionably marked by his persistent investigation into materials.
Furthermore, there is also Milton Machado’s outline plan for a text on the work of Ivens Machado with possible titles of “Vènere,” “Homonymous Boomerang,” “A lot of Tabu for so little Totem” [doc. no. 1111209].