Pointilism
William Betts: back to Artist
Artist Statement
For this body of work, I have been using images shot around beaches and swimming pools where the people gathering are typically very exposed physically and many types of personal interactions occur. The images are photographic representations of scenes we typically may catch glimpses of, watch for a moment and walk on, or possibly watch for a moment too long depending on the situation. The point-of-view is always enough of a distance that it is obvious that the viewer is not a participant, but rather an observer or watcher. Each painting has between Thirty-Six and Fifty-Eight Thousand individually applied drops of paint with each drop representing a single pixel from the source image.
As a painter and observer, I am interested in the layers of interactions; between the viewer and the image, the image and its relationship to the environment, and between the viewer and their viewing environment. In these paintings, the mirror background engages the surrounding environment and makes the reflection of the space around it. As the viewer moves around the piece, the reflections shift altering the viewing experience. Depending on the viewing angle, the viewer’s perception oscillates between the image, the reflection of the viewer, and the surrounding reflected environment creating a complex viewing experience that forces many of the important issues around personal privacy in this age.
Artist Biography
Born and raised in New York City, resided in Houston Texas and Miami Florida, William Betts now resides in California and Connecticut. 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.