Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

This excerpt from the landmark text, Antiestética, was penned by Argentine artist and author Luis Felipe Noé. This work famously problematized the polarizing relationship between nationalist and avant-garde art movements in Latin [...]

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 art magazine interview between Julia P. Herzberg and Francisca Sutil involves a conversation about the artist’s painting process in general and her recent series Mute (2009), in particular. Sutil explains that prior to initiating [...]

This exhibition essay explores the works of four contemporary women artists of Cuban descent: Teresita Fernández, María Elena González, Quisqueya Henríquez, and María Martínez-Cañas, each discussed [...]

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 art magazine article on Pepón Osorio overviews his career trajectory since the late 1980s, suggesting that he has pushed boundaries with his site-specific installations. His work addresses social issues by engaging in community outreach [...]

This short text appears in a catalogue of works in El Museo del Barrio’s permanent collection. It addresses several works by artist Leandro Katz. Among them, a chromogenic photographic print titled Lunar Typewriter (1980). It depicts an old- [...]

This art magazine article reviews the 10th Bienal de La Habana organized around the theme “Integration and Resistance in the Global Era.” It exhibits works in all media that explore the effects of globalization on economies, natural [...]

This art magazine article reviews the 9th Bienal de La Habana and describes art works in its various venues. The biennial’s theme focuses on the dynamics and complexities of urban culture, exhibiting works in all media. Some works present the [...]

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 magazine article addresses Ana Mendieta’s early work during her graduate studies at the University of Iowa in the early 1970s. The article argues that though Mendieta’s work has been extensively analyzed, this period in her [...]

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 [...]

This essay explores Liliana Porter’s screenprint and mixed-media works (1991–94), depicting figures and objects taken from popular culture, art, literature, and her own collection of bric-a-brac. Her works create images in which the real [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

This is an essay by the researcher and curator Carmen María Jaramillo published in a monograph on the Colombian artist Beatriz González. The author’s goal is to shed light on how González’s work exposes and challenges [...]

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 [...]

In this newspaper article, Marta Traba asserts that Beatriz González’s art epitomizes the Colombian avant-garde. It describes the difficulty of introducing González’s oeuvre at the XI Bienal de São Paulo, and states [...]

In this article, which appeared in El Espectador (Bogotá), Marta Traba defends the portrait of Simón Bolívar (“El Libertador”) made by Beatriz González from the attacks of conservative members of the Academia [...]

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 [...]

In this April 1964 magazine article, Marta Traba attests to Beatriz González’s artistic talents, reaffirming the decision by MAM (Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá) to exhibit the young artist’s work in a debut solo exhibition [...]

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- [...]

This is the official flier for the third edition of the Salão Paulista de Arte Moderna, held in 1954 at the Galeria Prestes Maia under the auspices of the Secretaria do Governo do Estado de São Paulo. Mário Zanini was responsible [...]

This flier announces the second Salão Paulista de Arte Moderna, presented by the Secretaria do Governo do Estado de São Paulo at the Galeria Prestes Maia in 1952. Francisco Matarazzo (the creator of the Bienal de São Paulo) and [...]

This flier announces the first Salão Paulista de Arte Moderna, held at the Galeria Prestes Maia. The event was organized by the Secretaria do Governo do Estado de São Paulo during the same year it launched the Bienal de São Paulo [...]

This article presents the retrospective on Mercedes Pardo’s art production at Museo de Arte Moderno de México (1978) by witnessing her international reach. Jose Balza focuses on the links that Pardo has with both Caracas and its [...]