Agosto Machado, an American performance artist, died on March 20, 2026.
He was a performance and visual artist, activist, and archivist who became a major figure in the New York City downtown arts scene beginning in the 1960s. Machado was orphaned as a child and grew up in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood.
As a child, he began collecting pictures of food from newspapers and magazines, later expanding the collection to include a range of objects. He chose the name Agosto Machado for himself in 1959, taking the surname Machado as a tribute to the Chinese-Portuguese fashion model China Machado.
Agosto Machado (died March 21, 2026) was an American performance and visual artist, activist, and archivist. He was a major figure in the New York City downtown arts scene beginning in the 1960s.