NewFiguration(HowAreYou,Generation80?)

The 1970s were intense in their transformations regarding the field of art. The conceptual, performative, and electronic turn of the period impacted a generation that experienced, at the same time, the radical opening of a mass culture that expanded the presence of television, graphic design, and independent practices among youth. This division between the "dematerialization of the art object" and the circulation of a pop visual culture produced a generation of artists who returned to traditional formats such as painting, but with a renewed kind of approach.

Image description: The image is a poster with a red background and white graphic elements. In the center, there is an abstract shape that looks like a tree or plant, with leaves and branches drawn in a free and expressive manner. Above this shape, it reads "COMO VAI VOCÊ, GERAÇÃO 80?" in large, casual lettering. Below, there is more white text on the red background, providing information about the Parque Lage visual arts school and details about an activity taking place on July 14 at 4:30 PM at Jardim Botânico. The text also mentions the Secretaria de Ciência e Cultura and the Governo do Estado do Rio de Janeiro.

The great moment that marked what we can call a "new figuration" was the exhibition "Como vai você Geração 80?" ("How Are You, Generation 80?"), held in 1984, coordinated by Sandra Mager and curated by Marcus Lontra and Paulo Roberto Leal. The exhibition was remarkable not only for the presence of several artists who were just starting their careers and would later become major names in Rio and Brazilian art – such as Adriana Varejão, Luiz Zerbini, Beatriz Milhazes, Cristina Canale, Daniel Senise, Marcos Chaves, Sergio Romagnolo, Leda Catunda, and Barrão – but, above all, for having taken place at Parque Lage, a space that became one of Rio de Janeiro's main creative hubs.

Image description: This is a black-and-white photograph of two men in a dramatic setting. The figure on the left is standing with hands raised, wearing an open shirt and jeans. On the right, there is a figure dressed in a tall hat and a suit, with one arm extended backward. Both are set against a plain, stripped-down background.

With an impressive number of 123 artists taking part, most of them students from the courses held at the Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage (along with a few names from São Paulo), the exhibition opened on July 14th to a large turnout, setting the tone for a decade in which the figure of the artist shifted from the austere profile of previous years to the more "rock and roll" profile of the period — it's worth remembering that, the following year, the city would host the first edition of Rock in Rio, a mega music event that internationalized the country's concert market. This was the context of a city in which venues such as Circo Voador (first in Arpoador and later at its permanent home in Lapa) and artistic collectives such as Nuvem Cigana (poetry) and Asdrúbal Trouxe o Trombone (theater), bands like Blitz and Barão Vermelho, spaces such as Baixo Leblon, and a cultural scene centered on Rio's South Zone set the tone for artistic sociability.

Image description: This is a black-and-white photograph of a man painting graffiti on a wall. On the left side, we see the man from behind, wearing a white shirt and jeans. He is standing near a paint bucket and several open cans of paint on the ground. The wall bears graffiti written in large, freeform letters, with words like "PRISONERS OF THIS WORLD, FATHER!" along with other graphic elements. In the background, there is a row of trees and the shadow of leaves cast on the wall.

The great impact of this moment (the exhibition lasted only one month and remained a watershed marker) was the renewal of the visual arts concomitant with the country's political renewal. While the economy in the 1980s lived through a period of profound crisis, the strength of the pro-direct-elections movements and the new 1988 Constitution matched this younger, more open profile of artists who rejected the previous conceptual hermeticism in favor of a direct, expressionist language, moving beyond the modernist legacy in favor of a dialogue with the international visual cultures of the period – from painting to cinema, from television to pop music.