Ecuador seen through dreams
The Embassy of Ecuador will introduce artist Miguel Betancourt at the exhibition “Ecuador Through my Dreams” at the Superior Gallery in Seoul from Aug. 1 to 31.
The event is part of the country’s 208th National Day celebration, according to the embassy.
It will feature 34 paintings that were part of the exhibition “Strokes and Transparencies” held in Beijing in March.
“Ecuador Through my Dreams is divided into five groups of paintings: trees, architecture, landscape, characters and assemblies,” the embassy’s third secretary Ana Diaz said.
“These artworks have been painted on different kinds of artisanal paper, among them rice paper.”
The artist described the exhibition as combining new and old pieces with the purpose of exposing his career and technique’s evolution.
Betancourt, born in Quito in 1958, 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 Ecuadorian countryside.
Betancourt has received recognition, including the Pollock-Krasner Award in 1993, conferred by the Pollock-Krasner Foundation in New York.
Two of his paintings are part of the United Nations’ art collections in Vienna and Geneva (UNIDO and UNAIDS).
His artwork also can be found in private collections like: the Inter-American Development Bank (Tokyo), the Diners Club (Ecuador), Istituto Italo-Latino Americano (Rome), the Art Museum of the Americas, OEA (Washington, D.C.), the OPEC Fund for International Development (Vienna) and the Slade School of Fine Art (London).
The opening ceremony will take place on Aug. 10 as a tribute to the First Call for Independence on Aug. 10, 1809, in Quito.
“This historic event gave Ecuador the nickname of ‘Luz de America’ (Light of America) because this revolt inspired the eventual collapse of the Spanish crown in Latin America,” the third secretary said.