Miguel Betancourt, Artist (Painter)

Born in Quito, Ecuador, 1958.
In 1974 he begins to study art with Oswaldo Moreno. In 1976 and 1977 he attends the painting workshop at the Milwaukee Art Museum, USA. He studies Pedagogy and Literature at PUCE and graduates in 1982. In 1988 he is invited by the US Department of State on a cultural tour. That same year he receives a scholarship from the British Council for a graduate program in painting at the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL, an academy where he initiates a friendship with John Hoyland.

Among his several representations, some of the most important are: the XLV Venice International Biennale, 1993; Eros in Ecuadorian Art, National Museum of Fine Arts (Chile) and Anthropological Museum (Lima), 1998; Ecuador in Spain, House of America, Madrid, 2000; Latin American Artists: A Contemporary Journey, Museum of Latin American Art, MoLAA, Long Beach, 2001; the V International Art Biennial as guest of honor, SIART, La Paz, 2007; Ecuador beyond concepts, Instituto Cervantes gallery, Rome, 2012; Latin American Pavilion (LAP), invited by the Bandi-Trazos Gallery to the International Art Fair, Beijing Exhibition Center, 2013; Ecuador in Focus (3 artists), at the OFID headquarters, Vienna, 2014; the Art Résilience Movement as founding member, Paris, 2014; VI Beijing International Art Biennale, 2015; ARTE15 in homage to Habitat III, Quito, 2016; an itinerant solo exhibition in several Asian cities (Beijing, Nanjing, Seoul, Tokyo), 2017; Ninfas, Meninas y la Mirada del Pintor, Alianza Francesa, Quito and, also, CCE, 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, Torre del Reloj Gallery, Mexico City, 2020. From 2008 to the present date, his work is part of a traveling exhibition, Imago Mundi, sponsored by the Benetton Foundation.

Betancourt has received several recognitions for his work. Amongst the most important are the Pollock-Krasner Award, conferred in 1993 by the homonymous foundation in New York, and the Oswaldo Guayasamín Medal awarded by the Metropolitan Council of Quito in December 2020.

His work can be found in national and international collections: the United Nations Art Gallery, in Vienna and Geneva, respectively, the Inter-American Development Bank (Tokyo), Diners Club of Ecuador, the Istituto Italo-Latino Americano (Rome), Art Museum of the Americas, OEA (Washington D.C.), Slade School of Fine Art (London), OFID (the OPEC Fund for International Development), Vienna, etc.

His artwork appears in various publications: Betancourt: from Silence to Color, Editorial CCE, Quito, 2021 (book about his work); Latin American Art Since 1900, Thames & Hudson, London, 2020; Ecuador: Light of Time, Contemporary Artists from Ecuador, Imago Mundi, Antiga Edizioni, Treviso, 2017; The passing of dreams, poetry and painting, Editorial del Trauco, Chile, 2016; The Album of the 6th Beijing International Art Biennale, China, 2015; Images against the Light, Editorial Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 2014; Oil Paintings in Public Ownership in London, The Slade School of Fine Art & UCL Art Collections, London, 2005; The New One Hundred Artists, Mundo Diners, Quito, 2001; 200 Years of Quito Paintings, Citymarket, Quito, 2007; Betancourt, Paradiso Editores, Quito, 1996. Articles about his work in national and foreign magazines: Ecuador Infinito, DolceVita, Casa Words, Rocinante; Hola Amigos (n.69), Cultural Association between Latin America and Japan; Vogue, Imago Mundi: works of art from all over the world (Italy); Mundo Diners, Gallery (n.462), or in Americas de la OEA (Washington DC).

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