Carlos Betancourt (artist)

rdf:langString Carlos Betancourt (artist)

rdf:langString Carlos Betancourt (born in 1966 in San Juan, Puerto Rico) is an American artist, generally described as a multi-disciplinary artist. His works explore issues of memory and his own experiences, while also dwelling in matters of beauty, identity and communication. Through re-examination, he recycles and reinterprets the past by delivering it in a fresh and new relevant context. Influenced by his own personal memories, he believes that art can be informed by one's own experiences. Betancourt's artwork is part of public collections such as the Smithsonian' National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the , the Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno in the Canary Islands, the Museo de Arte Moderno in Santo Domingo, , PAMM Perez Art Museum, New Orleans Museum of Art, Palm Springs Arts Museum, the Bass Museum in Miami Beach, the Lowe Art Museum at the University of Miami, the Museum of Latin American Art in California, and Museo de Arte de Ponce. His work is exhibited in various galleries as well as art fairs such as Art Basel and Arco. He is the recipient of numerous awards and grants, including the Florida Department of State Millennium Cultural Recognition Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Grant, and the Miami Beach Arts Council Grant. He has worked as a curator, furniture designer and has collaborated in architectural and site-specific commissions with architect Alberto Latorre in several large-scale public art commissions. Betancourt artwork is in part inspired by his relationship with nature as well as by the diverse cultures and history of the Caribbean basin, Florida and the Americas. He is influenced by mid-century imagery and architecture and his extensive travels and by artist Ana Mendieta's interventions, Robert Rauschenberg's assemblages, Andy Warhol's perceptions, Neo Rauch compositions, and a Federico Fellini-esque cast of characters for his photo assemblages. Additionally, he relates to some of theorist Jean Baudrillard views about art and his philosophy on objects; French artist Gustave Courbet's idea that "the only possible source for living art is the artist's own experiences", as well as the Martinican writer and theoretician, Edouard Glissant's belief that ..." the past resides in material objects that only release their hidden meanings when encountered imaginatively and sensuously". Betancourt admires the works of diverse artists such as Fernando Oller, Bill Viola, Cisco Gimenez, Marilyn Minter, Cindy Sherman, Damien Hirst, Félix González-Torres, Jeff Koons and Arnaldo Roche. Betancourt's oeuvre also explores the kaleidoscope (multi-racial, multi-lingual, trans-cultural) of the Caribbean and American culture. His work is also known for his glitzy bravado, re-introducing glitter and other colored materials to contemporary art. His ways of blending the lines between art, photography and nature in his large-format vinyl, photographs, installations and photo performances are considered highly innovative. Some of his artworks reflect influences of his contemporaries, although his work defies specific categorization.