Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

In September 15, 1998, graphic artist Antônio Maluf writes to art historian Aracy Amaral regarding her book Arte Construtiva no Brasil Coleção Adolpho Leirner. Even before its release, in his view, the book was considered an [...]

This text ispart two of Julio Plaza’s essay on the “artist’s book.” The author addresses the “anti-artistic book” as well—an innovative conception based on an analytic line of art and on the systematic practice of technological media. [...]

This text is part one of the essay by Julio Plaza on artists’ books. In it, he discusses the concept of the “book” as physical, informational, and linguistic object. In his view, form and content converge in the “artist’s book,” where [...]

This book about Waltercio Caldas is part of the ABC—Arte Brasileira Contemporânea—collection published by Funarte (Fundacão Nacional das Artes). A slim volume, it has a “Preface” and includes the artist’s remarks about some of his works, [...]

This article by Brazilian artist and art critic Ricardo Basbaum examines some aspects of the connection between text and image on the basis of the philosophical distinction Gilles Deleuze establishes between “enunciation” and “visibility.” [...]

The artist Artur Barrio wrote these two ironic, unprecedented texts, using a kind of experimental writing that explores processes and “the fragmentary.” He deployed this kind of writing whether delving into everyday banality (“Fragments”) or [...]

This text is an artistic testimony by Artur Barrio in which he clarifies matters that are the foundation of his work. These include the relationship between the artist and the viewing public, the viewers’ participation in the work, the broadening [...]

Written in August 1978, this text is the artist’s testimony regarding what he calls his Cadernoslivros [notebook-books], which he started making as early as 1966. What Barrio emphasizes about these is the process that stimulates his poetics [poí [...]

This is a poetic text by Artur Barrio, an experimental artist living in Brazil. The piece refers to both the process and the experience of his Situações, activities he carried out throughout the 1970s. In this case, the artist freely (ad lib) [...]

Written jointly by Cacilda Teixeira da Costa and Annateresa Fabris, this overview of the trends in artists’ books discusses two discrete strains: books with a broad approach based on the interaction between art and literature; and low-budget books [...]

A question-and-answer type questionnaire through which the artist Nelson Leirner raises the question about whether (or not) his book is an artist’s book [...]

In this essay Antonio Dias explains his interest in producing artist’s books, and lists some of his publications. He indicates his preference for projects that require a great deal of knowledge about printing techniques, and mentions his [...]

In this book, the artist Lygia Clark writes about her creative development over the course of a decade, from 1954 to 1964. She documents her discovery of the organic line, the inclusion of the frame as part of the painting, her use of modular spaces [...]

This is a book of poetry by the painter and draftsman Vicente do Rego Monteiro, a Brazilian who lived in France for years and produced work in a variety of fields. The theme of the book Quelques visages de Paris [Some Parisian Faces] takes the [...]