Line Series
William Betts: back to Artist
Artist Statement
Line Painting Series
2004-2009
I have always had a passion for both technology and painting and finding ways for these two to co-exist and thrive together is the focus of my art. Trained as a painter, I believe that there are unique qualities in painting as a sensuous experience that can be enhanced using technology and it can provide views we could not otherwise experience. My work explores the possibilities of painting in the digital age and the new views enabled through the use of technology.
The line paintings have their roots in digital photography, industrial technology processes, and classical painting. Using personal photographs from Nature as source images the paintings represent a sample of digital information from these images expanded to create an abstract work while maintaining the emotive essence of the organic view. These paintings are created using a process I developed for paint application that utilizes both commercial and proprietary manufacturing technologies and software applications.
I execute the work in acrylic or oil paint using colors mixed specifically for the image. The paint is applied one color at a time, one line at a time. While time consuming, the process allows for a high level of detail and resolution without which the paintings would fail to reach their potential. The resulting paintings capture and amplify the essence of the view by focusing on their organic rhythms and color relationships while removing other objective information.
Artist Biography
William Betts had a career in tech industries where he established proficiency in computer language and programing. From this, he uses complex industrial processes to create paintings that reflect the possibilities for an analog medium in a digital age. Betts uses his own source material (photographs/videos) as data sets to be examined, sampled, re-contextualized, manipulated and represented. He is typically less interested in content and more concerned with the structural and social aspects of the image.
William Betts was born and raised in New York City, resided in Houston Texas, Miami FL and is currently based in rural Connecticut and Mexico. In 1991, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts, Studio Art-Cum Laude from Arizona State University, William Betts has exhibited throughout North America and Europe and in the 2019 Biennale De La Habana, Cuba. His artwork has been featured in the group exhibition, Rasterfahndung (Tracing the Grid), Kunstmuseum, in Stuttgart, Germany, in the Arlington Museum of Art, The University of Texas, The Salt Lake City Art Center, The University of Wisconsin, Eau-Claire, and the Albuquerque Museum. His selected Bibliography includes The Creators Project (video interview), June 2016; Politician, Københagen, Photo Essay, March 28, 2016; Kinetic, Art from Polsinelli Art Collection, Privately Published 2015; Victoria Machmudov, Under övervakningsradarn, Konstperspektiv, Sweden, June, 2014 and Rasterfahndung (Tracing the Grid), Kunstmuseum Stuttgar (Show Catalog). He was named New American Painting Annual Prize winner in 2011 and featured in issues #60, #72, #84, and #96.
Pricing
1070 Homer Street,
Vancouver, BC, V6B 2W9, Canada
T. 604.737.3969
E. info@kostuikgallery.com