William Betts uses digital technology and industrial processes to produce paintings that are both visually captivating and technically innovative, reflecting on the possibilities for an analog medium in a digital age. His paintings investigate the connection between the structural nature of video and digital photography as an organized collection of color and location data that manifest as an image.

Quoting from Claudia Schmuckli's text from a 2008 Blaffer Gallery catalog: "Unlike other artists of his generation who have incorporated painting machines into their work to signal their critical or ironic engagement with the history of the medium and the role of the artist, Betts embraces the machine as the only tool that will produce the aesthetic and quantitative results he is after."

William Betts was born in New York City. The artist currently lives and works in Miami, FL. Paintings by William Betts have exhibited widely throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. In 2013, the artist was selected by 1800 Tequila for their Essential Artists series. Betts placed Best in Show in the 2006 Biennial Southwest at the Albuquerque Museum and was a finalist for the 2007 Hunting Art Prize. Reviews of his works have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Time Out Chicago, The Boston Globe, Houston Chronicle, Artsjournal.com, and the Dallas Art Revue.

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Lives in and works in Miami, FL


Education

1991
Arizona State University, Bachelor of Arts, Studio Art - Cum Laude

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2018
Color Space: New Paintings, Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver, BC

2016
SPLASH, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY

2012
Plus Gallery, Denver, CO
Inside Out, Holly Johnson Gallery, Dallas, TX

2011
Terminal, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM

2010
Flash, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York
New Mirror Paintings, Devin Borden Hiram Butler Gallery, Houston,TX
Memory, Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver, BC
Surveillance, Holly Johnson Gallery, Dallas, TX

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

2008
Devin Borden Hiram Butler Gallery, Houston, TX
Field of Vision, Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver, BC
Safe, Peter Miller Gallery, Chicago, IL
2007
Overseen, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY
Interference, Devin Borden Hiram Butler Gallery, Houston, TX
Array, Holly Johnson Gallery, Dallas, TX
View from the Panopticon, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
Indelible, Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver, BC

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

2005
Bentley Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
Texas State University, San Marcos, TX
Gallery deSoto, Los Angeles, CA
Sliver of Clarity, Holly Johnson Gallery, Dallas, TX
Thomas Werner Gallery, New York

2004
Poissant Gallery, Houston

Selected Group Exhibitions

2016
Summer Breeze, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY

2015
Brave New World, DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, Poupetova, Prague
Hotspots, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY

2014
Turn Up the Heat, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY
That's Where You Need to Be, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM

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

2012
Ocean, Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver, BC
Rasterfahndung (Tracing the Grid), Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Germany

2011
Substainability, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX

2010
This is not a photo show, Blue Star Contemporary Art Center, San Antonio, TX
appropriate manipulate duplicate, Gallery Joe, Philadelphia, PA

2009
Viewing Room, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York
Sunny Side Up, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York
Landscape Affected, University of Dallas, Haggerty Gallery, Irving, Texas

2008
Re-Mix I & II, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York
The Aesthetics of Terror, Curated by Manon Slome, Chelsea Art Museum, New York
Invisible Omniscience: Seeing and the Seen, Baltimore Art Place
Pixelated, Winston Wächter Fine Art, New York
Houston Area Exhibition, Blaffer Gallery, The Art Museum of the University of Houston, TX
New American Talent 23, Curated by Nato Thomson Arthouse, Austin, TX
Group Show, Curated by Steven Lam, Trinity University, San Antonio, TX
The Sky is Falling, Spur Projects, Portolo Valley, CA
Under Surveillance, John Michael Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, WI
Assistance League Celebrates Texas Art 2008, Dr. Kevin Salatino, LACMA Juror

2007
Chill, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York
Texas Biennial, Austin, TX
Vertigo, Plus Gallery, Denver
Fab Ab, Salt Lake City Art Center
B & W, Devin Borden Hiram Butler Gallery, Houston, TX
5X7, Arthouse at Jones Center, Austin, Texas

2006
Watch it! Television’s Influence in Art, State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY
Baroque Visions and Urban Verities: Seven Houston Painters, Curated by Terrie Sultan andChris French Blue Star, San Antonio, TX 
SUPERvision, Foster Gallery, University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire Texas Paint, Part
Two: Abstraction, Arlington Museum of Art, curated by Anne Allen
Biennial Southwest, Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, NM
Neal Benezra, Director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Juror and Curator
OPENDraw, OPENSOURCE Art, Champaign, IL

2006
Works on Paper National Competition, Long Beach, New Jersey,Juror: Carter Foster, Drawing
Curator Whitney Museum of American Art
5 Angles on Abstraction, Addison Arts, Santa Fe
Ripped from the Pages, Gallery 125, CACHH, Houston, Texas
Blurring the Line, University of Texas San Antonio, Julie Shipp, Curator
Assistance League of Houston Celebrates Texas Art, Houston, Jeffrey D. Grove, Curator of Contemporary Art, High Museum of Art Atlanta, Juror

2005
New Texas Painting, Diverseworks, Houston
Clothesline Exhibition, the Hospital, Covent Garden, London
Three Landscape Painters, Morgan Lehman Gallery, Lakeville, CT
Incremental Disruption, NAO Gallery, Boston, MA
20th Annual International Exhibition, University of Texas, Tyler, Texas
Texas Biennial, Austin, Texas
Assistance League of Houston Celebrates Texas Art, Houston, Texas
Dominic Molon, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Curator
DPI:2004 Competition, Kellogg University Art Gallery Cal Poly, Pomona, California

2004
The Big Show, Lawndale Art Center, Houston 

Awards and Honors

2013
1800 Tequila Essential Artist Project

2011
Annual Prize, New American Paintings

2010
Individual Artist Grant, Houston Arts Alliance
Finalist, 2010 Hunting Art Prize

2007
Finalist, Hunting Art Prize

2006
Best in Show, Biennial Southwest, Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, NM, Neal Benezra, Director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Juror and Curator
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

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

Selected Bibliography

2012
Millar, Tenton, "Security Footage Art: William Betts Artwork Turns Hidden
Camera Captures into Masterpieces, Trend Hunter, August 19
"Pointillism by William Betts", Juxtapoz, August 15, 2012
Campbell-Dollaghan, Kelsey, "Spooky Machine-Made Paintings Drawn From Surveillance Videos", Fast Company Design, August

2009
Slome, Manon, The Aesthetics of Terror, Charta

2008
Claudia Schmukli, Houston Area Show (catalog), University of Houston, TX
New American Paintings - Western Region Edition, Terrie Sultan juror
Nancy Wozny, Blaffer Gallery 2008 Area Exhibition, ArtsHouston,
Proximity Magazine, Review, Chicago Issue, May/June 2008
Sharon Brock, Looming Threats Spark Art, Palo Alto Daily News, February 28, 2008
Alan Artner, In the Galleries, Chicago Tribune, January 18, 2008
New American Paintings - Western Region Edition No. 72, Nick Capasso, juror

2007
Kelly Klaasmeyer, Retinal Redux, Houston Press, April 19, 2007
Elaine Wolff, Reading Between the Pixels, San Antonio Current, March 13, 2007
Nikki Moore, Bi-ology, Austin Chronicle, March 1, 2007
Brian Staker, Abs, Tracked, Salt Lake City Weekly, April 18, 2007
Texas Biennial 2007 Show Catalog, Austin, TX
Theresa Downing, SUPERvision, Foster Gallery, University of Wisconsin, Eau-Claire (Show Catalog)

2006
Margery Gordon, Art Basel Miami: Pulse Beats Sophomore Slump, ARTINFO.com, December 9, 2006
Dan R. Goddard, Houston, in the Eyes of the Artists, San Antonio Express- News, December 3, 2006
Nancy Salem, Biennial Southwest, Albuquerque Tribune, October 5, 2006
Biennial Southwest, Albuquerque Museum, Show Catalog
Bill Davenport: Ripped From the Pages at CACHH, Glasstire.com, May 15, 2006
Bill Davenport: William Betts Makes Art and a Profit, Houston Chronicle, Sunday
Zest Magazine cover story, May 7, 2006
Alan Artner, Review: William Betts at Peter Miller, Chicago Tribune, March 10, 2006
Lauren Weinberg, William Betts at Peter Miller, Time Out Chicago, March 3, 2006
Fred Camper, Slices of Light, Chicago Reader, March 3, 2006

2005
Kelly Klaasmeyer, Grab Bag: Diverseworks Surveys Texas Painting, Houston Press, December 2005
Charissa N. Terranova, William Betts at Holly Johnson, ARTLIES 48, Fall 2005
New American Painting, Volume 60, Open Studios Press, 2005, Fereshteh Daftari, Assistant Curator, Museum of Modern Art, Juror
Michael Paglia, Formal Ware, Westword Weekly, May 13, 2005
D’Lynne Plummer, Destination Nao, South End News, April 2005
Cate McQuaid, Incremental Disruption, The Boston Globe, April 15, 2005
Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, Brushed With Greatness, Austin American-Statesman, March 8, 2005
Elaine Wolff, Digital-induced Angst and Sensory Overload, San Antonio Current, March 10, 2005
J R Compton, The 2005 Texas Biennial: The Illusive 3rd Dimension, Dallas Arts Revue, March, 2005
Tyler Green, ArtLA Faves, Artsjournal.com, February 2, 2005

2004
Kelly Klaasmeyer, Capsule Reviews, Houston Press, October 21, 2004
Tim Moloney, The Line on William Betts, 002 Magazine, November