Words by IIII Published by Primary. Miami, FL. After Laughter Comes Tears. (Thank You: A.L. + C.G. + T.G. D.B. + R.R.) There is an energy that exudes from Carlos...

The Southeast Museum of Photography presents a special exhibition of the work of Carlos Betancourt titled "IMPRINTED." Open for viewing on October 17th and running through December 2nd at the Mori Hosseini Center on the campus of Daytona State College. The museum is free and open to the public. A reception and talk by the artist is scheduled for November 9th starting at 5:00 PM. Rich with color and expression, the artwork of Carlos Betancourt is undeniably vibrant. Coatings of pure color poured over objects and imagery cleanse those objects from all social connotations, allowing the viewer to see shape and form unbound from utility, and allowing Betancourt to configure and imbue these objects with his memories, his attachments. With these objects Betancourt builds imagery. With these objects, Betancourt rebuilds his memories. IMPRINTED, like many of Betancourt's endeavors, represents an experiment in the marriage of object and concept. While the concepts of his art have a personal referent, the physical objects are free to assume whatever shape is most effective for delivery and aesthetic appeal. These images can be small and intimate, or as large as a vinyl billboard. The imagery can become larger-than-life cardboard cut outs, can be printed on acrylic, can be a moving image on a monitor, or be installed as wallpaper. The image can be contained and presented as a commercial offering complete with frame, or the image can be pushed so far through this process that it becomes a three-dimensional sculpture. Whatever form the image takes, it is but another step in the evolution of the concept-from memory to imagery. IMPRINTED marks a deviation from typical photography exhibitions at the Museum. The exhibition includes photographs in the traditional sense, including a beautiful and remarkably large Polaroid on loan from a private collection, alongside digital prints of some of Betancourt's more practiced, and composed imagery. However, this range of printed media extends to more contemporary printing practices, including imagery printed larger than life on vinyl wall hangings, imagery printed on acrylic, and even printed on wallpaper installed within the space. This diverse and experimental roster of medium illustrates how Betancourt's image making need not be contained by traditional framing and installation techniques. Further, this technique reinforces the primacy of concept over technique. As this exhibit is atypical to the Southeast Museum of Photography, likewise nothing of Betancourt's style is typical. His work pushes the boundaries between the pure capture of the lens and image making in post-production. What results is an exploration of sensations: lush, radiant, eccentric, and uninhibited. Some pieces from IMPRINTED are the consequence of Betancourt picking seemingly random objects imbued with vital memories and creating an unapologetically beautiful, strangely ordered, and vibrant assemblage-like dreams or memories themselves. Featured in this exhibition are selections from Carlos Betancourt's "Re-Collections" series; ornamental and organic photographic prints assuming an ordered and symmetrical shape, but consisting of seemingly endless variety of smaller parts with no apparent connection. There is a flawless and pleasing character to how the disparate parts are assembled into the whole. Another version in the shape of totems, covers the entirety of one wall as it was printed on wall paper and then installed. Though the totem has a vertical symmetry unlike the rounded or snowflake shapes of the previous Re-Collections works, they too assume a larger shape without losing the character of the individual object. Also on display is a large piece from Betancourt's "Portals" series. This work portrays both an interior and exterior, architecture and landscape, figure, space and object all woven together. The larger than life print on acrylic invites the viewer to read a cyclical narrative from a flat surface. Completing the exhibition is a series of works that push photography well beyond traditional notions. The grand scale vinyl wall hangings displaying moments from Betancourt's performance pieces demand the viewer's attention, and seem to elevate the concept of the work, correlating the size of the print to the importance of the memory. Also on display is a work so far removed from it's image based origins that it requires a floor pedestal. This piece, Let Them Eat Cake Pink, is a found object sculpture with poured paint and resin. A physical object emanating form the "El Portal" image it sits in front of-this piece, like so many of Betancourt's work, pushes photography well beyond the traditional understanding of image making. The southeast museum of Photography at Daytona State College is free and open to the public. Located at 1200 W. International Blvd, Daytona Beach, FL. For more information on this or any exhibition, visit www.smponline.org

Novemeber 11, 2016 CT: Your work is suffused by Latin American and Caribbean traditions yet Pelican Passage is your first work taking on the large-scale performance dimension of the processional...

'We cry because [pictures] are beautiful… Some can be so beautiful that they ambush unsuspecting viewers, provoking floods of emotion. At one point, I even thought of calling this book...

BEYOND PINK FLAMINGOS AND ART FAIRS: A BRIEF HISTORY By Erica Ando History in South Florida, the saying goes, starts when you get off the plane. So it might be...

Artist Carlos Betancourt not only demonstrates an intelligent and exuberant use of post-modern artistic language, but he is very valuable yeast in the culture of the Caribbean and his home...

3 May 2015 New Haven I trace two tendencies in the recent artworks of Carlos Betancourt, overall coloration making a composition completely white or completely purple, and a tendency towards...

Beauty is truth, truth beauty that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. Those are the closing lines from Ode on a Grecian Urn...

PL: I initially saw your work in shows at Robert Miller Gallery in New York in the early 2000s. Tell me a little about your solo exhibit there. Few artists...

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book is dedicated to Alberto Latorre, mi gran amor. Thank you for sharing your insight, patience, and talents; collaborating with you is the most beautiful love. Gracias a...

The Unchanged Reality of Carlos Betancourt December 21, 2015 Carlos Betancourt is one of those artists who I felt I had known all my life. Even though we truly connected...

I Idea for consideration / Broad question How might you connect with your origins, using your body as the site for this encounter? II Problem In the aftermath of the...

CARLOS BETANCOURT SYNOPSIS FOR THE BOOK IMPERFECT UTOPIA Mixed-media artist Carlos Betancourt and his influential studio, Imperfect Utopia, helped to launch the Miami art scene in the 1980’s. Betancourt’s oeuvreis...

Carlos Betancourt: Re-Collections Rock, waterfall, and wind, and a figure crouching still--all these of one mind.1 Cheryl Hartup “Human beings and objects are indeed bound together in a collusion in...

Observing Carlos’ art could be similar to stepping into them head first — I almost said heart first — where you find yrself thinking: “Am I dreaming these images or...

INTERVIEW BELOW: Observing Carlos’ art could be similar to stepping into them head first — I almost said heart first — where you find yrself thinking: “Am I dreaming these...

Ornament and Obsession: The Fascinating World of Carlos Betancourt by Mariangela Capuzzo (Venice Projects exhibition catalog) Many contemporary artists use their own experiences as a platform to develop their artistic...

SHOPPING CART ATOMIC By MARCO BERENGO (Venice Projects, gallery director) As soon as I saw Shopping Cart Atomic by Carlos Betancourt, a supermarket carriage overflowing with incongruous objects covered with...

Anthropology Atomic: Carlos Betancourt by Wesley Grissom from arbus magazine For Carlos Betancourt, examining & experiencing culture is essential to stimulating creativity. Throughout his career, the artist's flamboyant oeuvre has...

Carlos Betancourt: The Art as an offering; the body as an altar By Janet Batet (Arte Al Dia essay) Carlos Betancourt’s oeuvre is an explosion of sensations: lush, radiant, eccentric,...

This story begins with a hot pink pair of Christian Louboutins so jaw dropping that my friend couldn’t help but call them “major” (major should be pronounced with a Posh...

The Slick Territorial Pissings of Carlos Betancourt Brazen bodies with black charcoal, ink, leaf, poetry, and otherwise ordinary earthly materials are a few of the tools Carlos Betancourt uses in...

The Eye of the Sky is Open: The Art of Carlos Betancourt. The Yoruba of Nigeria have an idiom for good weather: the eye of the sky is open. This...

Start with his body. A recent self-presentation involves painting his face blue and his body warm red in “Apito y Cenizas with Letter to Alberto” [plate 1]. Blue glitter and...

When I set out to make a selection of the most recent photographs of Carlos Betancourt to be exhibited in the Spinola Palace at Teguise (Lanzarote), which unexpectedly coincided with...

ARTE CONTEMPORANEO PRIVADO Federico Utrera Cada día que pasa queda más en evidencia que las múltiples y variadas maneras de exponer arte se reducen en esencia a dos: museos, centros...

I Led by the Dominican artist Charo Oquet, in October, several of her Miami colleagues and she herself engaged in a day-long dialog with the colonial city of Santo Domingo,...

CARLOS BETANCOURT: RECENT PHOTOGRAPHIC WORK by Denise M. Gerson Associate Director of Curaturial Affairs, Lowe Art Museum University of Miami 'A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more...

Si el cuerpo se identifica (1) cada vez mas como el ultimo lugar posible a partir del cual el individuo de nuestro tiempo puede fijar una identidad significante, y ello...

Timba the Medicine: The Art of Carlos Betancourt: by Robert Farris Thompson Carlos Betancourt comes from the sea of the Creoles, the Caribbean, cradle of mambo, timba, and merengue, cradle...

In an age where visual media has a direct, and stressful correlation with our world, I am convinced of witnessing two extraordinary artists determined to energize your mind. A narrative...