Betts’ cleverly shuffles the notion of the viewer’s gaze. The artist
uses surveillance footage and photographic images taken as a distant
observer with a long lens. Captivated by the structural components of
images, he re-contextualizes them through enhancing pixel components,
digital artifacts and simplified colors; then, the artist programs a CNC
(Computerized Numerical Control) machine to apply single drops of
acrylic paint to canvas. His finished paintings illuminate an
intersection between landscape painting and the photographic source
material, both traditionally having disparate intentions and viewing
experiences. It is this exchange between traditional painting and
ubiquitous documentation that Betts is mediating.