Angels with Guns: A Memoir on Guy Brett (and David Medalla)

Abstract In this memoir—which is part diary, part scrapbook—Yve-Alain Bois sifts through his nearly half-a-century correspondence with the British art critic Guy Brett to recount their friendship and evoke the numerous exhibitions the latter curated as well as the many books and catalogues he wrote, from his publications on Kinetic art and Helio Oiticica in the 1960s to his pioneering forays into contemporary art in the global South from the 1970s on. (Four short texts previously published by Bois on Brett's work are interspersed in the narrative). Particular attention is given to the Filipino artist David Medalla and the Brazilian artist Lygia Clark, whom Brett championed all his life and whose work and tribulations are discussed throughout.