William Betts

Holly Johnson Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of William Betts: A Man, A Plan, The Full Moon, - Yucatán, an exhibition of recent large scale stencil paintings by the California based artist. An opening reception will be held February 17^th from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. The exhibition continues through May 4.

The exhibition is a highly personal reflection on the artist’s Mérida and Yucatán adventure. Several works in the show are from photos he took as a young boy in 1974 visiting Merida. Fast forward 50 years - one weekend several years ago, he went back to Mérida and fell in love with the place. The memories of the childhood trip seemed fresh. The city had changed but remained hauntingly the same. The warmth of the people, the city’s historic colonial legacy, vibrant food, arts culture, and surrounding archaeological sites made it the perfect environment for his creative endeavors. 

The eight works are from his series of stencil paintings. Using his own proprietary software Betts’ deconstructs his own historical images to create large scale photographic stencils set within the framework of a pixel grid. Rooted in craft and street art, stenciling is both accessible and relatable typically used to quickly communicate a picture and used multiple times over. Betts upends this notion and creates something that is technically complex and visually sublime.

William Betts was born and raised in New York City. He graduated with honors from Arizona State University with a BA in Studio Art and a minor in philosophy (1991). His work has been included in numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout the U.S. and in venues such as DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, Praha, Czech Republic and in Rasterfahndung (Tracing the Grid), Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Germany. He was selected by 1800 Tequila for their Essential Artists series (2013), New American Paintings' Second Annual Prize (2012), First Place at the Assistance League of Houston Celebrates Texas Art (2008), a Hunting Art Prize finalist (2007 & 2010), Best in Show at Biennial Southwest at the Albuquerque Museum (2006) and in the Texas Biennial in Austin (2005 & 2007).

His work has been featured in publications such as New American Paintings, Artsjournal.com, San Antonio Express-News, Artlies, Glasstire, Houston Chronicle, Houston Press, The Boston Globe, Albuquerque Tribune, Chicago Tribune, and Chicago Reader. Betts currently lives and works in Palm Springs, California and hopes to someday return to the Yucatan and share his passion for it with his daughter.

Holly Johnson Gallery is located at 1845 East Levee Street #100, Dallas, Texas 75207. Gallery hours are 11 am to 5 pm Tuesday - Saturday. The gallery is a member of Contemporary Art Dealers of Dallas – CADD. For more information, call 214-369-0169, email info@hollyjohnsongallery.com, or visit www.hollyjohnsongallery.com