William Betts

Terminal
October 14 – November 23

A modern art gallery interior featuring large black and white photographs by William Betts displayed on white walls, with track lighting and a gray carpeted floor.
A framed photograph of an airplane being serviced by a ground crew hanging on a gallery wall. The image, created by William Betts, features a large aircraft with the text "AIR" on the side, against a streaked, monochrome background.
A minimalistic art gallery space with a grayscale photograph by William Betts on the wall depicting an airplane marked "AIR" with people boarding, illuminated by spotlights, set against a plain white backdrop.
A gallery wall featuring a series of framed photographs displaying various beach scenes with people swimming and walking, all crafted by William Betts. The images are hung in a grid-like arrangement.
A modern art gallery interior displaying large photographs by William Betts with aviation themes on white walls, illuminated by ceiling spotlights, in a clean, spacious room with gray carpet.
A black and white painting by William Betts of a jet airplane on display, hung on a gallery wall, illuminated by overhead lighting.
An artwork by William Betts consisting of a blurry black and white photo featuring a plane is displayed on a white wall in a gallery, illuminated by overhead track lighting.
A blurry black and white photograph of a William Betts exhibition displayed on a wall, illuminated by overhead lights, showing an indistinct scene with figures and furniture.
An art gallery wall featuring a blurry, pixelated image titled "Terminal" by William Betts, with the artist's name and title displayed to the right in black text.
An art gallery interior with white walls and grey carpet displaying black and white photographs by William Betts. The space is well-lit, featuring multiple partition walls.
An art gallery setting displaying nine framed images of dancers arranged in a grid on a well-lit, white wall, with an orange chair on the right near the corner and a small plaque attributing the artwork to William Betts.
Seven framed photographs by William Betts of various beach scenes, featuring people and sea waves, displayed in an asymmetrical arrangement on a white gallery wall.

Press Release

Richard Levy Gallery is pleased to present Terminal, an exhibition of new paintings by Houston based painter William Betts.

William Betts has become a plane-spotter. For this new body of work, he has haunted observation decks at airports across North America to record the sky bound silhouettes of trafficking planes. These innovative acrylic paintings, usually titled by an identifying airport code, marry state of the art engineering and proprietary software with digital photography. At close range, hundreds of raindrop size discs create pointillist abstractions, a veritable medicine cabinet of carefully modulated pastel colors. From afar, the images become minimalist snapshots, evocative shadows of airplanes on the verge of flight: equal parts technical marvel and artistic achievement.

On display in the project room is Betts’ vibrantly hued series of men and women swimming in glittering blue pools evocative of vacations, exotic retreats, and leisure. These tantalizing paintings of strangers are created on slick sheets of plexi on which thousands of tiny holes are drilled and filled with acrylic paint. Up close the image is lost and abstract spherical pixels of pigment become literal eye candy. At a distance the painting becomes an act of voyeurism as the pixilated image snaps into focus and one is left gazing at a private moment of an anonymous vacationer. Sourced from digital photography and laboriously painted, Bett’s technique challenges and expands our perceptions about contemporary painting. Both series investigate the artist’s keen interest in understanding and manipulating the temporal connection between viewer and image, and image and surface.


Born and raised in New York City, William Betts graduated from Arizona State University in 1991 with his B.A. in Studio Art and a minor in philosophy. From 1991 to 2002 he held various executive positions in the field of technology. In 2002 he left this world and married his educational background and career to create art full time. He currently lives and works in Houston, TX.

High-resolution images are available on request. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook: @levygallery 

Dates: October 14–November 23, 2011
Hours: Tuesday–Saturday, 11 am–4 pm
Location: 514 Central Avenue SW, Albuquerque, NM 87102
Contact: 505.766.9888, info@levygallery.com, www.levygallery.com @levygallery