Carlos Betancourt American, generally described as a contemporary artist influenced by the artworks of sensationalist, conceptualist and neo primitive artists, although his work defies specific categorization.
He is best known for his glitzy bravado, re-introducing glitter and other colored materials to contemporary art. His ways of bending the lines between art, photography and nature in his large format vinyls, photographs, installations and photo performances are considered highly innovative.
His work alludes to issues of memory and beauty, layering and juxtaposing information based on his own experiences, Pop-Culture and extensive travels. He is influenced in part by the works of Ana Mendieta, Bill Viola, Marylin Minter, Cindy Sherman, Damien Hirst, Felix Gonzales Torres, Jeff Koons

Jeff Koons

Jeffrey "Jeff" Koons is an American artist known for his reproductions of banal objects—such as balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror finish surfaces....

 and Arnaldo Roche.

Life

He studied at Miami Dade Community College, and graduated from Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale.

He has worked as a curator, furniture designer and has collaborated in architectural commissions.
His studio, Imperfect Utopia became the Bohemian underground address of the artistic melting pot that was Miami Beach in the 80's and 90's and the studio was visited by some of the most important artists, writers, poets, architects, dancers and musicians of the times, including Julian Schnabel

Julian Schnabel

Julian Schnabel is an American artist and filmmaker. In the 1980s, Schnabel received international media attention for his "plate paintings"—large-scale paintings set on broken ceramic plates....

, Sandra Bernhard

Sandra Bernhard

Sandra Bernhard is an American comedian, singer, actress and author. She first gained attention in the late 1970s with her stand-up comedy in which she often bitterly critiques celebrity culture and political figures. Bernhard is number 97 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest standups of...

, Gianni Versace

Gianni Versace

Gianni Versace was an Italian fashion designer and founder of Gianni Versace S.p.A., an international fashion house, which produces accessories, fragrances, makeup and home furnishings as well as clothes. He also designed costumes for the theatre and films, and was a friend of Madonna, Elton John,...

, Morris Lapidus, Liz Balmazeda, Octavio Paz

Octavio Paz

Octavio Paz Lozano was a Mexican writer, poet, and diplomat, and the winner of the 1990 Nobel Prize for Literature.-Early life and writings:...

, Celia Cruz

Celia Cruz

Celia Cruz was a Cuban-American salsa singer, and was one of the most successful Salsa performers of the 20th century, having earned twenty-three gold albums...

, Rudolph Nureyev and Bruce Weber

Bruce Weber (photographer)

Bruce Weber is an American fashion photographer and occasional filmmaker. He is most widely known for his ad campaigns for Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Pirelli, Abercrombie & Fitch, Revlon, and Gianni Versace, as well as his work for Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair, Elle, Life, Interview, and Rolling Stone...

.
Imperfect Utopia is considered by many locals to be partly responsible for creating a contemporary arts environment in Miami and Miami Beach, challenging the established system. His artwork continues to influence many contemporary artists locally and internationally.

Mr. Betancourt’s artwork is part of public collections such as the Smithsonian' National Portrait Gallery

National Portrait Gallery (United States)

The National Portrait Gallery is an art gallery in Washington, D.C., administered by the Smithsonian Institution. Its collections focus on images of famous individual Americans.-Building:...

 in Washington, D.C., the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, the Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno in the Canary Islands

Canary Islands

The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...

, the Museo de Arte Moderno in Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo, known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Its metropolitan population was 2,084,852 in 2003, and estimated at 3,294,385 in 2010. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River...

, San Antonio Museum of Art in Texas, the Miami Art Museum, the Bass Museum in Miami Beach, the Lowe Art Museum at the University of Miami, the Museum of Latin American Art in California, Museo de Arte de Ponce, etc. 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

National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...

Grant, and the Miami Beach Arts Council Grant.
He has been awarded commissions to create monumental artworks for the Miami-Dade Art in Public Places Trust and for the Puerto Rico Art in Public Places Program.
Betancourt is co-founder of 801 Projects, an arts studio center that provides studio space for visual artists based in Miami.

External links

• Artist's website
• "An interview with artist Carlos Betancourt", Latin American Art, February 18, 2010
• "Carlos Betancourt", One Art World
• "Carlos Betancourt", Artnet