Miguel Betancourt

Miguel Betancourt (born 5 January 1958) is an Ecuadorian contemporary artist living in Quito, Ecuador. He was formed as an artist in Ecuador, the United States, and the United Kingdom. His paintings are a fusion of local cultural motives and colors, and Western artistic influence.

Life
Born in Quito, Ecuador in 1958, Betancourt grew up in the outskirts of the city (Cumbayá). In 1974, he initiated art classes with Ecuadorian artist, Oswaldo Moreno. In 1976–1977, he went to study at the Milwaukee Art Center, United States, for a year. Upon his return to Ecuador, he enrolled in the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador to study Pedagogy and Literature until 1982, while continuing to develop his artistic career. In 1988, he was invited by the Department of State of the US to a Cultural Tour. In the same year, the British Council awarded him a scholarship to study a postgraduate art degree at the Slade School of Fine Art at the University College London. During his time in London, Betancourt befriended British artist John Hoyland.

Artistic career
Among his several representations, some of the most important in the 1990s were: the XLV. Venice Biennale, Italy in 1993; Eros in Ecuadorian Art, Chilean National Museum of Fine Arts Santiago de Chile and the National Museum of Archeology, Anthropology and History of Peru Lima, 1998; Ecuador in Spain, Casa de las Americas, Madrid, 2000; and Latin American Artists: A Contemporary Journey, Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, California, 2001. Career highlights in the late 2000s include his participation as Guest of Honor to the V. International Art Biennial SIART in La Paz, Bolivia, (2007), and in The Night of the Museums in Buenos Aires, Argentina (2009). At the beginning of 2011, Betancourt participated in the "Exhibition of Latin American and Caribbean Artists" in the Tokyo City Hall. In July 2012, he took part in a collective exhibition "Ecuador Beyond Concepts" at the gallery of the Instituto Cervantes in Rome. In 2013, the Gallery Bandi-Trazos invited him to be part of the Latin-American Pavilion at the International Art Fair, in the Beijing Exhibition Center. In 2014 he was one of three artists at the "Ecuador in Focus" exhibition held at the OPEC Fund for International Development headquarters in Vienna and became founding member of the Art Résilience movement in Paris. In 2016, he participated in ARTE15 as homage to Habitat III in Quito. Since 2017, his itinerant one-man show has been presented in various Asian cities (Beijing, Nanjing, Seoul and Tokyo) as well as in Latin America, including "Ninfas, Meninas y la Mirada del Pintor", in Alianza Francesa, Quito and, also, in the Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, Cuenca, 2018; "Mnemografías", Saladentro gallery, Cuenca, 2019; "Quito Readings", at the Global Migration Forum, Quito, 2020; "Transparencies of the Middle Country", an exhibition of painting on paper, in Torre del Reloj Gallery, Mexico City, 2020. From 2008 to the present date, his work is part of a traveling exhibition, Imago Mundi Collection, which was launched by designer Luciano Benetton and sponsored by the Imago Mundi Foundation.

Betancourt has received several recognitions for his work, including the Pollock-Krasner Award in 1993, conferred by the Pollock-Krasner Foundation in New York City, United States and the Oswaldo Guayasamín Medal awarded by the Metropolitan Council of Quito in December 2020.

Betancourt continues to be involved in various projects and exhibitions in Ecuador and internationally. He was recently invited to participate in the NY Latin American Art Triennial 2022.

Collections
His work can be found in national and international collections: United Nations offices in Vienna and in Geneva (specifically in UNAIDS), Inter-American Development Bank (Tokyo), Diners Club del Ecuador, Istituto Italo-Latino Americano (Rome), Art Museum of the Americas, Organization of American States (Washington D.C.), OFID (the OPEC Fund for International Development), Vienna, the Slade School of Fine Art (London), among others.

Publications
Recently, articles about Betancourt's work have appeared in magazines such as Americas (OAS, Washington DC), Gatopardo (Mexico), Infinite Ecuador (Quito) and Dolce Vita (Quito), among others.
 * Kraemer, S. "Betancourt: from Silence to Color", "Editorial CCE", Quito (Ecuador).
 * Lucie-Smith, E. (2020) "Latin American Art Since 1900", "Thames & Hudson", London (United Kingdom).
 * Benetton, L. et al. (2017) "Ecuador: light of time – Contemporary artists from Ecuador", Antiga Edizioni, Treviso (Italy).
 * Lastra, P. (2016), "El transcurrir del sueño: pinturas de Miguel Betancourt", Editorial del Trauco, Quito (Ecuador).
 * Betancourt, M. (2014), "Betancourt – Imágenes a trasluz", Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, Quito (Ecuador).
 * Rodríguez, M.A. (2011) "Palabra de Pintores – Artistas del Ecuador", Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, Quito (Ecuador).
 * Rodríguez, M.A. (2011) "Betancourt: Colores y Texturas", Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, Quito (Ecuador).
 * The curators (2006) "Oil Paintings-London in Public Ownership: The Slade and UCL", Public Catalogue Foundation, London (United Kingdom).
 * Flores, I. et al. (2001) "Nuevos Cien Artistas", Revista Mundo Diners, Quito (Ecuador).
 * Michelena, X. and Querejeta, A. (1996) "Betancourt", Paradiso Editores, Quito (Ecuador).

Exhibitions

 * (2011), "Betancourt: Colores y Texturas", Retrospective Exhibition, Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana – Quito, Ecuador.
 * 2017 Ecuador Through My Dreams, painting on paper, Superior Gallery, Seoul
 * 2018 	Ninfas, Meninas y la Mirada del Pintor, French Alliance, Quito


 * 2015	Special Exhibition of Contemporary Ecuadorian Art, VI Beijing International Art Biennial, China