English
Oscar Masotta, taking advantage of the fact that my exhibition in New York coincided with that of Marta Minujín (El Batacazo (The Long Shot), at the Bianchini Gallery and that of Julio Le Parc—at the Howard Wise Gallery, located in the same building as the aforementioned show—published an article in the OEA magazine América, which pointed out this “rare situation”, referring to the fact that we were exhibiting simultaneously—between January and February 1966—“separated in space only by the short distance between one side of 57th street and the other”. A year and a half later, Editorial Jorge Álvarez published a book titled Happenings by Oscar Masotta and others (Marta Minujín, Alicia Páez, Roberto Jacoby, Eliseo Verón, Eduardo Costa, Madela Ezcurra, Raúl Escari and Octavio Paz). The article (“Tres argentinos en Nueva York” (Three Argentineans in New York)) is included in it, but this time with the addition of a footnote—in a somewhat forced manner, given that it does not contribute to the main text’s argument—in reference to Antiestética, a note that I interpreted as being offensive. […]
Masotta’s article seemed stimulating to me insofar as it gave cause for reflection, but the note in reference to Antiestética filled me with rage, which I unleashed by writing him a very long letter. Since I hadn’t been painting ever since that very same show, I began by telling him: “if the specific thing about my work in general is—as you say—vindicating painting as painting, I ask myself how you would explain the fact that, continuing as always with my investigations, I am now no longer turning to painting as the medium for my work. I have always been told that my group was the furthest one from painting, and also that my works demonstrated a desire to destroy it. […] The specific thing of mine is not painting, but understanding myself by way of all means possible—possible for me—given my natural environment, which is presented to me with all the disperse, absolutely chaotic facts and full of contradictions”.
Account by Luis Felipe Noé included in the book "Mi viaje-Cuaderno de bitácora" (My Voyage – Logbook, 2014).