Dear Friends:

I want to share a few photos of my exhibition in the three gallery rooms at the Casa de la Cultura. There was a significant group of friends and art lovers during the opening night on November, 1st. The show was well mounted and the catalogue-book contributed to the evening’s success.
One of my greatest satisfactions that evening was the arrival of my daughter- Andrea- who wrote one of the articles in this publication- to attend my exhibit Colors and Textures.
The show has been  open until November 30. Throughout this time it has been intensively visited, which also fills me with great satisfaction.

So, enjoy the photos of this exhibit that has united a group of compelling art pieces produced over the last 25 years.

COLORES Y TEXTURAS DE BETANCOURT

Este es el título de esta exposición que se presentará en la CCE, en las salas del edificio matriz, en Quito, a partir del 1 de noviembre. Esta muestra antológica, que viene desde 1986 hasta el presente año, integrará 120 pinturas agrupadas en 4 series: 1. Ventanas translúcidas, 2. Árboles, 3. Arquitecturas y 4. Personas y postales. Los componentes técnicos de esta exposición son: acuarelas, mixtas sobre textiles diversos, así como también ensamblajes. Un cúmulo  de  estas  obras  ha sido expuesto en  Australia, en  varios países  de Europa y de América.

Algunas de las acuarelas, ejecutadas sobre diversas calases  de papeles,  fueron realizadas hace más de dos décadas, mientras que los  acrílicos y los óleos combinados con lacas  han sido producidos en años más  recientes. Cada una de las 4  secuencias señaladas  guarda sus características propias y su  combinación enriquece el conjunto de la exposición.

Con la presentación de esta amplia gama de  obras, que incluye también algunos trabajos de Arte Pictórica, serie de dibujos que fuera presentada en el 2005 en el Centro Cultural Metropolitano, de nuestra ciudad, se aspira a dejar en la retina del espectador una visión más completa de los planteamientos de este autor, latentes en estas pinturas realizadas a lo largo de  veinte y cinco  años de su creación plástica.

BOLETÍN  de la  Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, Quito, 2011

Para ver el catálogo haga click sobre la imagen o sobre este enlace.

Queridos Amigos:
Les cuento las actividades en las que me he ocupado en estas dos últimas semanas.

Empiezo por contarles que el jueves 17 de febrero acudí a la embajada Norteamericana y allí permanecí un buen segmento de la mañana. Fui invitado por la señora embajadora Heather Hodges a una charla sobre mi obra, en el hall en donde se encuentra ubicada una bella colección de arte de los dos países. En esta reunión hubo preguntas, fotos, filmación, para culminar con un almuerzo con tan distinguida anfitriona. Esta fue una experiencia muy linda y es de desear que prosigan con esta clase de acercamientos, para la difusión de nuestro arte.

Luego el 24 de febrero tuvo lugar la inauguración de una exposición colectiva, en la Alianza Francesa. Esta muestra es muy interesante porque se exhibió obras que pretenden, entre otras cosas, fusionar el arte con objetos de la vida cotidiana.

Estos trabajos “claman por salir de los límites de galería” decía Amparo Ramón, la organizadora y dueña de la Galería Rattanbir. Tuvimos una muy nutrida concurrencia a pesar de la lluvia pertinaz de esa noche. Los comentarios por parte del público y de la prensa fueron halagadores al admirar esas piezas únicas, muchas de ellas con objetos reutilizados, en los cuales los artistas hemos dejado nuestra huella. Creo que esta galería es una alternativa válida, en este mundo signado por la intercomunicación digital.

El pasado fin de semana, en cambio, como para amainar los ajetreos culturales de los días anteriores, estuvimos invitados a casa de los Angioletti, dilectos amigos con quienes venimos compartiendo una amistad desde hace un par de décadas.

Ahora les incluyo un conjunto de fotos que resumen estas actividades.

M. Betancourt

Dear Friends:

Here is an update on my recent activities.

To begin with I was at the American Embassy on February 17th. I was invited by Ambassador Heather Hodges to share a talk about my art in the main hall where my work rests alongside a beautiful art collection of other Ecuadorian and American painters. During this meeting there were questions, pictures, videos, and it ended with lunch in the company of our distinguished host. It was a wonderful experience; hopefully these kinds of activities will continue.

Afterwards, on February 24th we had the opening of a joint art show at the French Alliance. This unique exhibit displayed works that aimed at fusing art with common everyday objects. These pieces “claimed to exceed the limits of the gallery”, said Amparo Ramón, organizer and owner of Rattanbir Gallery. There was a significant group of spectators, despite the heavy rain of the evening. The reception from both the guests, as well as the media was positive and highlighted the unique objects, many constructed with recycled materials, objects that conveyed the artists’ marks. I believe this gallery is a valuable alternative in this world dominated by digital communication.

Finally, as if to dissipate the cultural commotion, last weekend we were invited to the Angioletti’s home. We had a relaxing gathering with our very dear friends with whom we share a long friendship for the past two decades.

I am attaching the photos that summarize the above activities.

M. Betancourt

!Que lo disfuten!!

Por Dra. Inés M. Flores

La producción artística de Miguel Betancourt, en los últimos veinte años, se desarrolla bajo el signo de la modernidad; el pintor ha captado la señal de los tiempos, y formula su discurso plástico con un lenguaje contemporáneo, pero en términos muy personales, cargados de audacia imaginativa.

Mas su camino no es lineal, no responde a una cronológica determinada, sino a las circunstancias que vive el artista, en su entorno, influido a su vez por el ritmo del mundo. En Betancourt, el hecho creativo es una práctica constante, que se halla en su cotidianeidad, y que comprende también la lectura, la investigación, la experimentación con una temática que ha venido ejercitando sabiamente para perfeccionarla, dándole un incuestionable toque de originalidad: la arquitectura urbana, estilizada, adecuada a un estilo; la naturaleza y su diversidad, en composiciones ingeniosamente equilibradas y con sus elementos dispuestos con gracia en el espacio del cuadro. En su serie Figuras y árboles, se produce una fantasiosa alianza entre lo vegetal y lo humano; así como en Rostros y figuras  sobre lienzo cáñamo, diversos personajes aparecen en el escenario del cuadro, de modo manifiesto o disimulados entre los caprichos de un dibujo aparentemente arbitrario, pero que obedece a una práctica y una disciplina de mucho tiempo.

Y en cuanto al color, la paleta de Betancourt es cálida y rica; su cromática es típicamente andina y, aliada a los asuntos que trata el artista, crea un ostensible clima poético, con obvias referencias al mundo ecuatorial, y que sin duda tienen que ver con la sólida formación literaria de este artista que también ha profundizado en el campo de las letras, del cual emigró con éxito a la plástica, sin que por eso haya dejado de estar en contacto con la lírica.

Miguel Betancourt es un pintor de espacios abiertos, en los cuales juegan sus figuras, que de alguna manera tienden a lo geométrico, creando un mundo armonioso, donde reina el equilibrio, que contrasta con los segmentos de color. Esa tención crea una dimensión estética novedosa, que nos obliga a adaptar la mirada a la oferta visual del cuadro.

Se ha subrayado el sentimiento no solo ecuatoriano sino también americano de Betancourt, que brota en su obra, más allá de los parámetros corrientes en nuestra plástica. Y es que él ha hurgado en el espíritu del continente, y ha aprendido a expresarlo en sus lienzos: alegorías, paisajes, vegetación, atmósferas, ambientes, símbolos derivados de un presente y de un pasado que se encuentran en esas telas a las que no es extraño el barroco propio de nuestras culturas: argumentos que en el soporte hallan el tono justo y la proporción adecuada.

El discurso plástico de este artista es tan particular como elocuente; es persuasivo, hecho de sugerencias, de insinuaciones, con el encanto propio de lo que se hace con pasión y con mucho oficio. El resultado es una obra  que se halla entre las más originales e interesantes de la plástica ecuatoriana. Diríase que es una versión abreviada del mundo, según Miguel Betancourt.

Quito, 2010

Esto es un recordatorio para lo de nuestra exposición en Galería B&B, en Cumbayá, lugar en el que estamos exponiendo tres artistas ecuatorianos, hasta el próximo 18 de noviembre.

Será muy grato para nosotros saber que usted ha visitado nuestra exposición. Para su información, le comentamos que se atenderá también el día sábado.

Cordialmente,

Miguel Betancourt

OSVALDO VITERI
THE POETICS OF MESTIZAJE

Ecuador, land of volcanoes and artists, has in painter Osvaldo Viteri, one of its greatest exponents. The renowned maestro is a multi-faceted and anti-dogmatic artist whose art is a reflection on the identity of the Ecuadoran people and the world view of Latin America’s mestizo culture.

Perhaps it was the memory of his childhood on his grandmother’s farm that took him back to his roots and led him to study his magical land. Or perhaps it was the volcanoes. “El Tungurahua, the fierce and active volcano, grounded me,” Viteri says. “Cotopaxi gave me magic and love, and Pichincha gave me peace, humanity, and awe.”

Viteri’s creative process led him to produce the Ensamblajes series [Assemblages], which marked a turning point for visual arts in Ecuador, and in all of Latin America, with an artistic conceptualization of the topic of mestizaje, or mixed cultures.

The 1950s, 60s, and 70s were significant decades for Ecuador as its economic and industrial progress gave it a more prominent place on the international stage. Artists participated in this change, following the vanguard artists of Europe and the United States. Viteri was part of the transformation and was also the precursor of a new esthetic vision.

Viteri was born in Ambato, in 1931, into an educated family of Basque origin that had come to Ecuador early in the colonial period. Though he studied architecture in college, Viteri knew that his real vocation was in painting and he developed this career through multi-faceted work.

Viteri has had numerous exhibitions in Europe, the United States, and Latin America, and has participated in many international shows in places such as: the General Conference of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) in Argentina; the National Museum of Fine Art in Stockholm, Sweden; the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, at the University of Essex, England; the Palacio Velazquez in Spain; and the Americas Collection Gallery in Miami, among others.

He has won many awards, participated in several international biennials, and lectured in universities in Ecuador and the United States. He has also held a number of teaching positions. Viteri’s works appear in private museums and collections. In 1996, he attended the official presentation of his paintings for the self portraits collection in the Galleria Degli Uffizi in Florence, Italy.

In 2000, the National Museum of Fine Arts in Argentina held a retrospective of his work, and in 2005, when the Museo Provincial de la Casa del Portal was inaugurated in Ambato, two halls were dedicated to Viteri, with 85 paintings donated by the artist.

Viteri’s prolific works have emerged in a number of separate phases: in the 1950s and 60s, he concentrated on symbolic geometry that tended towards expressive abstraction. Drawing and painting coexist in his work as he moves through visual geography with various styles and techniques. In the Serie de desnudos he works in sanguine with free and natural brushstrokes, while in Serie neofigurativa from the 1990s, he prefers ink, which he also uses in the Serie tauromaquias/Quijote (2005). By contrast, he uses colors in Serie Panzaleo and impastos and texture in the Serie de los desastres de las guerras (2000).

In the late 1960s, his Ensamblajes marked a break with the visual art styles of his time and made its mark in art history through a new kind of language where symbols, signs, and concepts merge in a mixed technique of strong chromatism and texture.

Ensamblajes are structures that fall somewhere between painting, sculpture, textile art, and collage. Here, the indigenous and the colonial, the sacred and the profane, high society art and popular art all come together with an intense sense of poetry. Ensamblajes are metaphorical high reliefs of our continent, symbolic representations of our syncretism, paradigms of cultural mestizaje, and testimonies of a magic Latin America and a personal world of art.

My work is multi-faceted and I have had to make some breaks with the past that were great spiritual and conceptual efforts for me.

I had a gestural-abstract phase influenced by “Action Painting” in New York, but my research in history and anthropology and my inquiries into folklore and religion led to the creation of my Ensamblajes [Assemblages], which are at the heart of my esthetic.

* The Ensamblajes mark a change in Ecuadoran plastic art and painting and now they have an international presence as well. How did this new vision emerge?

The Ensamblajes series began in the 1960s and I still work on it some. It represents a significant break in the landscape of plastic arts in my country, and I would dare to say in Latin America as a whole. My earlier work was influenced by the Italian painter Bum and Spanish Informalism, but then works started to emerge that had a very individual style.

Some foreign critics have said that it is absolutely original work, but I was never searching for originality. I was looking for a way to express my concept of mestizaje, or Latin American syncretism, based on my experiences and on the social and political reality of the Latin American people.

* How do you view cultural mestizaje in Latin America, and how do you incorporate it into your work?

My idea of mestizaje is based on the fusion of the American culture and the Spanish culture that began with the discovery of the Americas. The culture of the sun and the culture of Christ. So, my Ensamblajes have descended from both studied art forms and popular art, from the universal and the native, the preColombian and the colonial.

I had the opportunity to work for eight years researching scientific folklore as part of a cultural anthropology program. After preparing myself with the theoretical underpinnings, I travelled through the inter-Andean region, the highlands, and the small pueblos of Ecuador. The documentation I gathered was processed in Quito with the assistance of maestro Paulo de Carvalho Neto. This teamwork was crucial for me to be able to gain a better understanding of the reality of my country and to find my roots. I began to incorporate extra-pictorial objects in my paintings: rag dolls, canvas, sackcloth, medallions, old textiles. They are symbolic objects that transmit many of the contradictions that the people of the Americas experience. The rag dolls were usually sold at the entrance to the Santo Domingo plaza in Quito, where the salespeople had their stalls. I bought my first dolls there, the kind that children play with, and also my first black dolls, which were used for witchcraft. The idea of the Ensamblajes grew from my experience in anthropological research and from contact with small towns and people there. It emerged quite intuitively, infused with popular culture.

* What is your method of work? Do you develop a theme or do you start with a gestural impulse? Do you have established stages or do you explore openly?

I don’t think. I paint. But when I’m not painting, I think. As a young man, I read a lot of Ecuadoran literature and universal literature. In the last few years I have been more interested in history, philosophy, religion, and anthropology. I work in an open way, because I don’t like to feel like my hands are tied to any particular trend. I need freedom. In my case, my work doesn’t come out of an established outline. Each piece is the result of an experience and of a deep reflection.

* How do you define art? And what do you think the role of the artist is in our society?

I think the best way to define art is not to define it. The creative process is the confrontation between the inner reality of an artist and an external reality. Everything external has a repercussion on your internal being, whether it is a simple flower, the sun or the moon, war or peace. Art has been the greatest pre-occupation of my life. It is a journey, where you feel like you’re on a tightrope and that you could fall off into the abyss at any time. You have to have quite a unique strength of spirit to be able to walk that way. I think that art is revolutionary and that you have to take it on with complete freedom.

The artist must be constantly on the alert for everything that has an effect on human beings, for national, international, and universal happenings.

* What are the trends in Ecuadoran art today?

The current panorama of art in Ecuador is very similar to what is occurring in the entire world during this time of globalization. There are a lot of ideas coming from young artists who are making forays into new trends, which I don’t think are so new–like installation art, performance art, or conceptual art, which started with Marcel Duchamp early last century. I myself did a “Happening” in 1968 and critic Jacqueline Barnitz described it in one of her books.

MIGUEL BETANCOURT
A CHALLENGE TO CAPTURE BEAUTY
With the collaboration of Gabriel Gross

Art critic Marta Traba has said that Ecuadoran art through the 1950s was influenced by Mexican mural art, social indigenism, and the work of the master painter Guayasamin. Then, vanguard artists pushed the edges in new ways around the world, and the Ecuadoran art environment experienced changes as well. During the 1960s and 70s, the “Rupture Generation” explored new plastic visions with innovative artists like Oswaldo Viteri, Enrique Tabara, and others, who lay the foundations for the new trends that future generations would explore.

Today, Ecuador participates in the world art scene through esthetic pluralism and the fusion of techniques and methods, all part of the globalization of art. Miguel Betancourt belongs to this eclectic generation of Ecuadoran artists, and he responds to these global artistic movements by following his own visual guidelines.

Betancourt was born in Quito in 1958 and discovered his artistic vocation early. “When my mother fell ill and the five of us were left alone, we were afraid we would lose her. My childhood was full of loneliness, and perhaps that’s why I began to paint. It was a recreational activity that would free me from the anguish of poverty and the absence of my mother. In any case, my art began in childhood. It was a refuge; I didn’t imagine it would become my profession.”

In 1976 and 1977, Betancourt studied painting at the Milwaukee Art Center in the United States. When he returned to Quito to finish his studies in Pedagogy and Liberal Arts at the Catholic Pontifical University, he rediscovered his native Ecuador–the presence of pre-Hispanic civilizations, the wealth of colonial architecture, and the grandeur of the baroque churches of Quito. He saw anew the color of the Andes and the beauty of the Ecuadoran countryside.

In 1988, the US State Department invited Betancourt on a cultural tour, and later, he received a scholarship from the British Council that allowed him to study in London and travel through Europe. Betancourt reflects on the impact this experience had on his work: “Those years of study, visiting museums, and being in contact with great civilizations, were very important for my art education. Both the discovery of my own country and my experience in the United States and Europe made their mark in my works. I had to assimilate those aspects and try to capture them in my paintings.”

Betancourt’s works range from figuration to abstract art. Some tend to a certain geometry, while others are more freely traced. He always seeks to fuse styles and techniques. Though a master in watercolor, he has not abandoned oils or acrylic. He explores collage and chorreado (a drip technique) and is just as likely to lay down light watery brushstrokes as impastos with heavy texture. His subject matter includes nature, Ecuadoran scenery, Andean references, architecture of days gone by, and small towns of the region.

Betancourt recalls when he sold his first painting: “It happened in 1974. I was participating in a contest in the Province of Pichincha and I received my first award. But on opening day, my painting wasn’t hanging in the Charpantier Gallery. I was worried, but Don Pablo, the gallery owner, told me that a Swiss tourist had purchased it.”

Other exhibitions, primarily of watercolor landscapes, followed in the 1980s. “Watercolor allows me a great deal of freedom. Sometimes I work with light brushstrokes and at other times with heavy impastos, with a mixed-media technique,” he says.

In 1993, Betancourt participated in the 45th International Art Expo at the Venice Biennial. That same year, he received the Pollock-Krasner Award. His works appear in private collections in Geneva and Vienna, at the United Nations, and in Ecuadoran and Argentine museums and collections.

In 2000, Western University in Sidney, Australia invited him to give lectures on Ecuadoran art and to exhibit at the Canberra Museum. Between 2001 and 2003, Betancourt did an itinerant show through Central America and was invited to several art biennials in Chile and Bolivia, as well as to the Cuenca Biennial in Ecuador where he participated in the “inspirato corpo” theme by painting directly on dresses worn by models. In 2008, Luciano Benetton appointed him coordinator of the Ecuadoran office of the Ojo Latino Project, and in 2009, he exhibited in Argentina at the Volpe Stessens Cultural Foundation. Betancourt continues to be active with various projects and international exhibitions.

Miguel Betancourt defines his style in the following way: “I think my work has been fed by constructivist and expressionist movements. On the other hand, I have also had a free pictorial line, especially in the last few years. Right now, I am In a phase where I formulate themes on textured canvasses with very light, almost aerial, strokes spreading the colors several times.”

Color is perhaps, one of the main elements of his art. He confesses that he does have a particular favorite on his palette. “The color that has dominated my work has always been indigo. I relate it to Latin America and to visual experiences of my childhood in the Cumbaya Valley area.”

Betancourt usually paints in series because this allows him to encapsulate a concept and finish a visual process.

“My first exhibitions were 40 or 50 works grouped together. They were called Paisaje andino (1987), Selvaojival (1992), Arborescencias (1994), and Memoria vegetal (1995), and they are a testimony to my love of nature.”

Indeed, nature has been a continuing theme in his work, precisely because he grew up surrounded by the Ecuadoran landscape, a world of plants and volcanoes. Themes related to pre-Hispanic and colonial architecture also stand out in the series Piedra roja sobre piedra azul (1997); Edificaciones (1998); and Cuerpos mas ciudades (2004).

In his series called Arte pictorica (2005), which was presented at the Metropolitan Cultural Center of Quito and included 26 drawings in acrylic done on cardboard and kraft paper, he returned to scenery and created a metaphor of sky and rock, accentuating the duality of levity and substance, movement and stillness. This series is also an exhibition of his esthetic ideal. “I believe that an artist must begin at his roots in order to arrive at the universal,” Betancourt says. “My Ecuadoran and ancestral essence is founded in the confrontation of international cultures. I try to lift up an art that assimilates those aspects and expresses those experiences. The challenge is to capture cultural richness and the beauty of nature and to be able to transmit it.”

Adriana Bianco is a professor of Liberal Arts, a curator, and a member of the Art Critics Association (AACA). She has written several prologues and articles on art and collaborates frequently with Americas. Gabriel Gross is a Specialist in the OAS Department of Strategic Communications and Image. Artwork appears courtesy of the artists.

Photos by Galo Valencia and Ronald Jones
COPYRIGHT 2010 Organization of American States
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2010 Gale, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved

La inauguración de la muestra de TRAZOSEIS fue un éxito. En este evento inaugural tuvimos más de 500 personas. La inauguración fue en una noche un poco lluviosa en la galería El Cubo, situada en el Centro Comercial La Esquina. Para los que no estuvieron en el acto bautismal, y para el público en general, el sábado 17 y el domingo 18 de abril fueron días que salvaron de los impedimentos que las personas suelen tener durante los días de la semana. La cantidad de asistentes ha inducido a la reflexión a nuestra Gestora Cultural Daniela Canabal,  quien es  de Venezuela  y  está empeñada en proseguir con este tipo de actividades en Cumbayá, aunque ciertamente estos proyectos tengan un costo monetario relativamente alto (catálogos, afiches, invitaciones, cóctel extendido a varios días, repartición de invitaciones, arriendo del local, etc). Con esta exposición en el valle ella ha bautizado su empresa de Gestión Cultural. De Daniela y de su equipo de trabajo (Belén, María José y Olga) habrá que esperar mucho, porque ellas tienen la juventud y la gana de trabajar por la difusión cultural.

Para nosotros esta  exposición colectiva fue una experiencia memorable por el hecho de interactuar con el público visitante, pero sobre todo porque logramos que Cumbayá se acerque a este tipo de eventos culturales.  En el futuro también podremos realizar trabajos demostrativos, de carácter lúdico, con la comunidad. Para ello  hace falta encontrar la casa idónea en donde se ofrezca este tipo de actividades.

Les incluyo algunas fotos relacionadas con la totalidad del evento.

Canabal Gestión de Arte es una empresa privada de gestión cultural en el Ecuador. En esta ocasión ha organizado una muestra de arte colectiva  constituida por seis  artistas ecuatorianos: 3 escultores y 3 pintores/ 3 hombres,  3 mujeres/ 3 de origen extranjero y 3 nacionales. Dolores Andrade, Miguel Betancourt, Carmen Carreño, Margot Ledergerber, Maurice Montero y David Santillán  somos los artistas que hemos sido convocados para formar TRAZOSEIS.

El colectivo TRAZOSEIS se constituye alrededor de la multiplicidad, tanto por el género, como por las distintas nacionalidades, así como también por las diversas motivaciones para enfrentar el arte, estilos y  materiales, buscando siempre la originalidad en nuestras propuestas.  Hemos advertido que estas diferencias, lejos de crear divergencias, nos enriquecen como agrupación de artistas contemporáneos.

En el boletín de prensa preparado para este evento se ha dicho que “esta muestra es el resultado de combinar los caracteres simbólicos y mágicos  de cada uno de los artistas, aspecto que maravillará al espectador por los logros alcanzados. En esta muestra colectiva  hay una diversidad de técnicas, formatos, materiales, que dan cuenta de la rica producción artística de esta ciudad, lugar en la que se han afincado estos artistas, quienes ejercen su oficio desde hace varias décadas.  Esta es  una exposición llena de sorpresas, que se aleja de los estereotipos formales y se adentra en el mundo de la heterogeneidad y de la diversidad”

Esta es una invitación cordial a  la inauguración de la exposición TRAZOSEIS, para este  jueves 15 de abril del 2010 a las 19h00,  en el Centro de Exposiciones El Cubo, del Centro Comercial  La Esquina, en Cumbayá y al cocktail que se ofrecerá al público asistente. Luego de esta inauguración, esta  muestra permanecerá abierta hasta  el 22 de Abril de 2010.