I began at the principle of Latin America's geological and archaeological unity and arrived at an undeniable mythical unity. An extensive bibliography confirms the existence of identical cultural residues, from pre-history, in all this territory, which I sought to depict in the panel.

In fact the panel, in a rectangular and horizontal format, shows a re-charted map of Latin America, with representations of its "mythical patrimony" - many of them imitating cave drawings - reproductions of the nautical charts of the river populations, constellations seen by our peoples, the marks or European colonization (which destroyed the continent's cultural unity). There are drawings of signs that appear in the unconscious of Latin American peoples, such as the "smiling girl of death", the two-headed serpent, the pineapple as deity, etc.

The figures that only take on form when seen from an aerial view. In Peru, and a reference to the- continent's current situation, like the drawing of the eye of Cuba, looking at us all, patrolling us - have not been forgotten.

[...]


Maria Bonomi a Paula Quental, 1989. QUENTAL, Paula. “A Memória Mítica de Maria Bonomi”.
Jornal da Tarde, São Paulo, 4 mar. 1989.

[...]

In preparing his matrix by cutting, making grooves, scratching or drawing, the print-maker is always alert to the fact that he is working in two worlds: that of the matrix and that of the printed image. These worlds are complementary but endowed with existences of their own. Just as the polished or acid-corroded surface of the metal matrix. configurations appear in the plank and end-grain cuts, the color and veins of the wooden matrix which are do not appear in the printed paper. The marks that appear there are the artist's intimate relationship with the material and the detailed record of the impulse of the gesture in the magical, dazzling transformation of that material.

Maria Bonomi has been revealing a little bit about this word of fascinating games. In 1972 she presented the SOLOMBRAS [SHADOWS], polyester pieces that reproduced wooden matrixes, rendering them colored and transparent. Now she gives us the EPIGRAMAS [EPIGRAMS]. This time Maria does not make physical use of the matrix, but of Its xylographic crafting. As she works the hard clay, she brings out extremely rich reliefs that resemble the structure of her prints. The clay pieces are converted to metal. The hard clay makes an appearance, not so much out of technical necessity but because, as a print-maker, the artist does not dispense the resistance of the material in order to make the vibrations or the lines and grooves, of the full and empty spaces sing. Epigrams, brief satirical poems which in Maria's hands become inscriptions of risky combinations that offer up countless figurative possibilities, open to deciphering and fruition.

The Epigrams contain a challenge for those who, like Maria, have always defended the prints multiple vocation. This time the matrix ceases to be the generating mater of images in order to become multiple itself. At this moment the matrix is recovered as an autonomous artistic object that concentrates in itself the project of selt-multiplication, abandoning its gesture of generating function.

[...]

Renina Katz, 1984.
KATZ, Renina (apres.). Epigramas. Maria Bonomi.
Biombos. Haron Cohen.
São Paulo, Múltipla de Arte Ltda., nov. 1984.

[...]

By employing two modern concepts — the recovery or the landscape and the archaeology of the urban — and fusing them, the artist has gone one step further: she has recovered the propositions of Klee and Miró; she has opened the curtains of the enchanted world of science fiction: she has made dreamlike markings, for the grooves take on the power of oriental rice paddies. Paisagem [Landscape] is more construtivist, for it possesses a greater predominance of shadow and light. Memória [Memory] subverts form and proposes the predominance or fantasy, as in Miró, leaving us with simultaneous visions of the macro and micro worlds.

[...]


Alberto Beuttenmüller, 1980.
BEUTTENMÜLLER, Alberto. “Impressão Mural”.
Visão, São Paulo, 56 : 70, 21 jan. 1980.