Exhibition at Alliance Française, Quito, Oct 5 – 26, 2022
In the thematic-anthological exhibition “Cosmogonies of a Painter”, Miguel Betancourt presents a fascinating dialogue between the present and the pre-Columbian roots of the Americas. Through a selection of works spanning more than two decades, the artist translates the legacy of cultures such as Valdivia, La Tolita, Quitus, and Incas into a contemporary pictorial language, where mythology and aesthetic mestizaje take center stage.
A Journey Through the Pacha
The exhibition uses the Andean concept of Pacha (space-time) as a guiding thread, dividing the experience into three interconnected worlds:
- Uku Pacha (Inner World / Underworld): Betancourt explores the world of ancestors and the survival of ancient times. Here, orthogonal compositions and phytomorphic figures stand out, sprouting from supports such as hemp canvas, transforming the vision of “death” into a state of latent, colorful life.
- Kay Pacha (World of the Present / Earthly World): The artist places pre-Hispanic characters in everyday situations: bathers in the sea, dialogues in Manteño chairs, and portraits of shamans. It is a humanization of myth where ceremonial objects come alive in the present.
- Hanak Pacha (World of the Sacred / Upper World): The realm of the gods and the ethereal. In this series, figures levitate in stellar atmospheres, merging ancestral iconography with Western religious syncretism, resulting in powerful works such as “Venus Born in the Seas” or his particular visions of the crucifixion.
Syncretism and Matter
Betancourt’s work in this collection is a pictographic narratology. His style, navigating between abstraction and figuration, relies on an intense chromatic palette and the bold use of materials, reaffirming his identity as an artist who, although drawing from Western avant-gardes, maintains a spirit bound to his Indo-American origins.
“A semiosphere of artistic creation grouping the cosmogonic visions of Miguel Betancourt, encoded in a thought bound to ancient worlds.”
