William Betts

Biography
William Betts (b. 1964) explores the possibilities of the digital age by using innovative techniques that include proprietary software, laser cutters, CNC technology, and a self-designed complex robotic system for painting. For the moon series, Betts deconstructs his images in order to create photographic stencils that are based on the pixel grid, giving him the ability to scale the painting to its ideal size. Betts employs the robotic paint system to make the pool paintings which applies drops of paint to the canvas one color at a time – one drop at a time. Up close the images are lost in pointillist fields of color. From afar, the paintings become photographic images of leisure, showing anonymous people floating in sparkling blue pools.

William Betts was born and raised in New York City. He graduated with honors from Arizona State University in 1991 with a BA in Studio Art and a minor in philosophy.

Steeped in superstition and intrigue, the moon is a fascinating subject; we all see the exact same thing and yet it means something different to each of us. It fosters events and marks time. It is an empty vessel onto which we can project our imaginings and see exactly what we want. Each moon painting is based on a photograph of a different moon and each photograph—like each stencil—is only used once. This makes each piece—like the full moon itself —a memory of a specific place and time and a memento of a life event. —William Betts

Education
1991 Arizona State University, Bachelor of Arts, Studio Art, Cum Laude, Tempe, AZ

Solo Exhibitions
2018
Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver, BC

2017
4306 Contemporary, Miami, FL
Holly Johnson Gallery, Dallas, TX

2016
Splash, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY

2015
Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver, BC

2012 
Robert McClain Gallery, Houston, TX
Remote Sensing, Plus Ultra Gallery, Denver, CO
Inside Out, Holly Johnson Gallery, Dallas TX

2011 
Terminal, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM

2010 
Devin Borden Hiram Butler, Houston, TX 
Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver, BC
Holly Johnson Gallery, Dallas, TX
Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY

2009 
Simpatia é Quase Amor, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM

2008 
Devin Borden Hiram Butler Gallery, Houston, TX
Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver, BC
Peter Miller Gallery, Chicago, IL

2007 
Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY
View from the Panopticon, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM 
Devin Borden Hiram Butler Gallery, Houston, TX
Holly Johnson Gallery, Dallas, TX 
Kostuick Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Canada

2006 
Anne Reed Gallery, Sun Valley, ID
Peter Miller Gallery, Chicago, IL

2005 
Bentley Projects, Phoenix, AZ
Texas State University, San Marcos, TX
Gallery deSoto, Los Angeles, CA
Holly Johnson Gallery, Dallas, TX
Plus Gallery, Denver, CO

2004 
Poissant Gallery, Houston, TX

Group Exhibitions
2020
2020 Vision, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM

2019
to the moon and back, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
Future Tense, Thatcher Projects, New York City, NY
CCTV Sociedades Vigiladas, Bienal de la Habana, Galaria Teodoro Ramos Blanco, Havana Cuba
Summer Group Show, Rarity Gallery, Mykonos, Greece

2018
Summer Salon Exhibit, Rarity Gallery, Mykonos, Greece
Peers, Trestle Projects, Brooklyn New York

2017
Summer Salon Exhibit, Rarity Gallery, Mykonos, Greece
Painted Landscapes: Contemporary Views, Heritage Museums & Gardens Sandwich, MA

2016
Brave New World, DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, Praha, Czech Republic

2014 
That’s Where You Need to Be, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM

2013 
Logical Expressions and Variations, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY

2012 
Rasterfahndung (Tracing the Grid), Kunstmuseum, Stuttgart, Germany

2011 
white-hot, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY
20 in 2011, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
Sustainability, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX

2010
Mechanistic: William Betts, Ron Laboray, Relja Penzic, Peter Miller Gallery Ltd., Chicago, IL 
This is not a photo show, Blue Star Contemporary Art Center, San Antonio, TX
appropriate manipulate duplicate, Gallery Joe, Philadelphia, PA

2009 
Landscape Affected, University of Dallas, Haggerty Gallery, Irving, TX

2008 
Pixelated, Winston Wächter Fine Art, New York, NY
New American talent 23, Arthouse, Austin, TX
Re-Mix I & II, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY
Invisible Omniscience: Seeing and the Seen, Baltimore Art Place, Baltimore, MD
Group Show, Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 
Houston Area Show, Blaffer Gallery, University of Houston, Houston, TX
Under Surveillance, John Michael Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, WI
Assistance League Celebrates Texas Art 2008, Dr. Salatino, LACMA juror, 
Houston, TX
The Sky is Falling, Spur Projects, Portolo Valley, CA

2007 
Collector’s Gallery, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Chill, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY 
Texas Biennial, Austin, TX
Vertigo, Plus Gallery, Denver, CO
Fab Ab, Salt Lake City Art Center, Salt Lake City, UT
Los Americanos, Arcaute Arte Contemporaneo, Monterrey, Mexico 
B & W, Devin Borden Hiram Butler Gallery, Houston, TX

2006 
New Houston Painting, Blue Star, San Antonio, TX
Texas Paint, Part Two: Abstraction, Arlington Museum of Art, TX
Biennial Southwest, Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, NM
OPENDraw, OPENSOURCE Art, Champaign, IL
2006 Works on Paper National Competition, Long Beach, NJ 
Summer Group Show, Anne Reed Gallery, Sun Valley, ID
5 Angles on Abstraction, Addison Arts, Santa Fe, NM
Ripped from the Pages, Gallery 125, CACHH, Houston, TX
Red Dot, Blue Star, San Antonio, TX
Blurring the Line, University of Texas, San Antonio, TX
Assistance League of Houston Celebrates Texas Art, Houston, TX
Watch it! Television’s Influence in Art, State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY

2005 
Gallery Artists, Addison Arts, Santa Fe, NM
Selections from New American Painting, Plus Gallery, Denver, CO
New Texas Painting, Diverseworks, Houston, TX
Clothesline Exhibition, the Hospital, Covent Garden, London 
Three Landscape Painters, Morgan Lehman Gallery, Lakeville, CT
Summer Group Show, Bentley Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
Inaugural Group Exhibition, Holly Johnson Gallery, Dallas, TX
Incremental Disruption, NAO Gallery, Boston, MA
20th Annual International Exhibition, University of Texas, Tyler, TX
Texas Biennial, Austin, TX
Assistance League of Houston Celebrates Texas Art, Houston, TX
DPI:2004 Competition, Kellogg University Art Gallery Cal Poly, Pomona, CA
Gensler Architects Rotating Artist Program, Houston, TX
Sizzle, Diverseworks, Houston, TX
The Big Show, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX
William Betts and Kay Nguyen, Poissant O’Neal Gallery, Houston, TX

Awards
2013 
1800 Tequila Essential Artist Project

2011
Finalist, Hunting Art Prize

2010 
Individual Artist Grant, New Works Fellowship Award, Houston Arts Alliance

2008 
Finalist, Hunting Art Prize
First Place, Assistance League of Houston Celebrates Texas Art,
Dr. Kevin Salatino, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Juror and Curator

2007 
Finalist, Hunting Art Prize

2006 
Best in Show, Biennial Southwest, Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, Albuquerque NM, Neal Benezra, Director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art juror
Third Place Prize, Assistance League of Houston Celebrates Texas
Art, Jeffrey D. Grove, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, High Museum of Art Atlanta Juror 
Individual Artist Grant, Cultural Arts Council of Houston and Harris County

2005 
Individual Artist Grant, Cultural Arts Council of Houston and Harris County
Third Place Prize, Assistance League of Houston Celebrates Texas Art, Dominic Molon, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Juror and Curator

Press
2020
Personae Magazine, Oslo Norway, Cover and picture editorial

2016 ​
Painted Landscapes: Contemporary Views, (catalog) Heritage Museums & Gardens Sandwich, MA
Giaco Furino, Have Some Surveillance Fun in the Sun with ‘SPLASH’, VICE Entertainment, June 20
The Creators Project, June 21
Politiken, Københagen Photo Essay, March 28

2014
Margaret Wright, Painters Point the Way at Richard Levy Gallery, Adobe Airstream, August – September
Elisa McGovern, Galleries Get It Up: Be Here Now, The Weekly Alibi, August 7-13
Mateo Coffman, That’s Where You Need to Be, Local IQ, July 22
Victoria Machmudov, Under övervakningsradarn, Konstperspektiv Magazine, cover

Press Release
2020
2020 Vision at Richard Levy Gallery

2019
to the moon and back at Richard Levy Gallery

2014
That’s Where You Need To Be at Richard Levy Gallery

2011
20 in 2011 at Richard Levy Gallery

Terminal  at Richard Levy Gallery

2009
Simpatia é Quase Amor at Richard Levy Gallery

2007
View from the Panopticon at Richard Levy Gallery