Born in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Lives and works in Amsterdam, Berlin and Japan.

What Morgan Betz’s art makes clear is that a great deal of present-day art is irrelevant because it does not demonstrate its legitimacy. Every work of art must be able to answer the question of whether it is truly of any added value. Beauty in itself does not suffice. Betz’s paintings and objects are certainly not beautiful, in the classical sense of the word. He deliberately crashes off the track to find out whether anything new can be made from the ruins. He has a subtle gift for subversion, a talent that is sadly lacking from much contemporary art.

How does this subversion work? Betz is capable of drawing inspiration and influence from the maladjusted and tragicomic elements of our everyday lives. It takes courage to turn away from the customary practices of rationalization and conceptualisation in today’s visual culture.

How does it demonstrate its relevance? His work can be described as a reservoir of images, fragments, and quotations. The accumulation of all these layers enables Betz to redefine the material he has collected in terms of content. The process of making the work becomes an exercise in finding the right balance between directness, construction, and the tension of a planned outcome. Betz’s quest is for a closing equilibrium in which the image achieves tranquillity: the moment at which it needs nothing beyond itself in order to convince, and is no longer an illustration of ideas.

Download CV (updated 08-19)

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