Existing comment:
Clemente Padin (b. 1939, Uruguayan)
Mail art to John Held Jr., 1992
Clemente Padin is an Uruguayan artist who has participated in the mail art network since the 1960s. Similar to other Latin American artists with whom he has collaborated, such as Edgardo Vigo and Guillermo Deisler, his work often spoke in opposition to the oppressive dictatorships and US military presence that characterized many South American countries during the second half of the twentieth century. Despite suffering imprisonment, torture, and decades of censorship, Padin continued to espouse messages of social justice and peace. This intense portrait of a suffering child, collaged with calls for peace and an end to the US blockade of Cuba on the back of the postcard, is a succinct call to action. The grave political situation in many Latin American countries impelled young artists to engage the subject head on.
-- Matthew Goodwin |