Jennifer Kostuik Gallery
1070 Homer Street
Vancouver.

Wednesday, May 16, 2008
Time: 6 pm

Living in a world where we are constantly watched from satellites, airplanes and stationary video cameras on our roads and in our cities, Betts’ latest paintings address a contemporary world in which surveillance is widely used as both a deterrent and for social control. Inspired by the writings of Jeremy Bentham on the Panopticon and Michel Foucault in his work Discipline & Punish, he explores the sociological and philosophical implications of video surveillance in contemporary society. “I am interested in how far removed I can get from the subject and the painting itself and still make paintings” says Betts, “today we have so many layers between the individual and direct experience, it fundamentally changes how we see the world”.

Betts plays with dimension and scale- he continues to push our sense of perception through his manipulation of resolution. In the late 1800’s, Georges Seurat’s observations of public scenes were large scale paintings covered in a system of vertical and horizontal coordinates executed with tiny dots of brilliant color. Betts pushes the self-contained rectilinear field to a new technological level by imposing the grid and then creating and using a computer controlled linear motion technology and a proprietary software system to precisely apply thousands of drips of paint. Further, the graininess of low quality video and the “slice of life” subject matter of the Pointillism master are married, refocusing Seurat’s intent into a new view of containment both visually and within contemporary social and moral arenas presently surrounding video monitoring and recording by individuals, corporations and government.

Biography
Betts works on several different projects concurrently, moving back and forth between series and ideas. It is an ongoing exploration of the intersection of the digital realm and the traditional craft of painting, Betts uses various technologies, strategies, and processes to create his work. Born and raised in New York City, Betts graduated from Arizona State University in 1991 with high honors with a B.A. in Studio Art and a minor in philosophy. Between 1991 and 2002 he held various executive positions in the technology field. Before leaving the business world to pursue his painting full time in 2002, he was a senior executive responsible for the European operations of an international application software company. Betts is currently based in Houston, Texas.

Betts was recently awarded Best in Show at the Biennial Southwest at the Albuquerque Museum in New Mexico by Neal Benezra, the Director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. In addition, Recently Betts was awarded first place in the Assistance League Celebrates Texas Art 2008 exhibition juried by Kevin Saladino from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In addition, work from this series is included in the upcoming 2008 Houston Area Show at the Blaffer Gallery curated by Claudia Schmukli as well as in New American Talent 23 at the Arthouse Texas in Austin.