In the 1980s Medellin became the epicenter of a series of problems that had been brewing since the first half of the 20th century: uncontrolled population growth, unemployment, poverty and a discredited political class. Drug trafficking burst in with increasing power to the point of permeating the political class. Dark forces in collusion with the State attacked political leaders and human rights defenders. Fear prevailed!
In spite of the climate of distress, exhibitions directly linked to printmaking were held in the city, proving that this technique is an expressive medium favored by young artists. This period saw the emergence of a group of artists from the University of Antioquia and the National University. Eleven Realist Printmakers (1980) was the name of an exhibition held at the Instituto de Integración Cultural; Luis Fernando Uribe, Luis Fernando Escobar, Hugo Santamaría, Miguel Polling, Roberto García and Armando Montoya, were some of the artists who took part in it.
Between 1980 and 1981 the first promotion of fine art professionals of the region obtained their degrees, and indication of a change in the way that art was being perceived as a result of the pedagogical innovations. At that same time the Fourth Art Biennial was held in the year 1981, the Arturo and Rebeca Rabinovich Salon was launched, and two events considered fundamental in the national and the Latin American art context took place in the city: The Colloquium of Non-Objectual Art and Urban Art and the International Symposium of Art Critics. In addition to these important cultural events, the decade was characterized by an explosion of large-scale sculptures in the city public spaces, this circumstance represented, in some significant cases, the active presence of art in the configuration of a new urban landscape.
In 1981, the Printmaking Workshop, ascribed to the Arts Faculty of the University of Antioquia, continued its pedagogical work led by Néstor Carlos Martínez, who reinforced the structure of the workshop and its presence in the curricular program; in turn, the National University incorporated Federico Londoño as printmaking professor in 1983. Dorié Acosta resumed the printmaking courses at Museo de Antioquia, from 1988 to 1994.
In 1983 Luis Fernando Mejía and Ricardo Peláez founded the Printmaking Studio; in 1985, Ángela María Restrepo joined this project. In addition to the above, the exhibition 3 Propuestas Gráficas (Three Graphic Proposals) was held. By the end of the decade “lost plate linocut” got consolidated as an expressive and formal technique with particular relevance in the national artistic scene.
While the participation of artists from Antioquia in the Smurfit Cartón Colombia portfolios was never significant during the 1970s, it certainly was during the 1980s: Gregorio Cuartas (1981); Saturnino Ramírez (1982); Luis Fernando Peláez, Luis Alfonso Ramírez and José Antonio Suárez (1986); Rangel Gutiérrez and Yairo Mejía (1987); Marta Elena Vélez and Yolanda Mesa (1988); and Augusto Rendón (1989). The participation in the 1985 Salon of Colombian Artists brought recognition to printmaking as a significant means of expression; Helena Vargas Tisnés was awarded the second prize in 1987 and Fabián Rendón received an honorable mention in 1989; finally, Armando Montoya was the recipient of the first prize of the National Culture Awards of the University of Antioquia.
