RIVA SWEETROCKET
"Ruby Slipper Revelation"
The Artist at Work
Artist's Statement
And then in the back room, Ivar showed me a New York aerial street scene by Williams Betts that was really special and huge. I imagine that it will make an appearance at Flashpoint before you know it.
WILLIAM BETTS
"Pugsley & Watson Avenue"
PLEASE CLICK ON THIS IMAGE TO SEE THE AMAZING DETAIL IN THIS PIECE
Artist's Statement
The painting is different than my other work to date but it does represent a direction I am exploring. As you know, my work examines how we can use technology to re-vitalize the traditional craft of painting and develop new ways of making paintings.
Pugsley and Watson is my first effort to work with an offshore studio to create work. Since making that painting, I have made several more and am currently working on a large (10 x 35 feet) aerial image that I have proposed to show in Miami at the December fairs. If that does not work out, it will be shown in New York at a gallery in the fall. There are several ideas at work in these paintings.
Coming from the technology business, I believe global sourcing can connect disparate economies and leverage cost of living differentials for mutual benefit. While this sounds coldly calculating and business like, it really is just another type of studio practice.
Visually, aerial images are very dense combining many unique organic and inorganic forms. From a painting point of view, this makes them very challenging as there are few possibilities for visual shortcuts - each house or building is unique and each window is different as is each tree or car. This makes it challenging to paint and also ideal for sending over seas as skills are very high and the cost of the labor is low relative to the USA. Technically, I like the method of work. The final result is very realistic but not Estes-like photo real, it's definitely hand painted but also has a strange kind of anonymous, non-specific style which I really like.
The image is taken from an airplane. Since I was young, I have always been interested in aerial views. Much of my university work, both paintings and prints (1988 - 91) are based on aerial photographs.
Aerial images have historically had a primarily utilitarian function being used to chart demographic and environmental change, plan military and political actions, map topography and plan cities. Today they are ubiquitous (thanks to Google earth and the like) yet no less valuable for the information they can convey beyond directions to an event.
The overview they provide still has the ability to communicate demographic, social, historical and political commentary in a very clear yet uniquely passive way.
The image of Puglsey and Watson is personally interesting to me. It is of a long forgotten urban battleground where the fight between the between urban communities and the promise of progress offered by the car and the Interstate highway was fought and lost.
I grew up in New York and I remember during the 60's and 70's the massive highway construction projects that were being built by Robert Moses. The area of the Bronx that is the subject of this painting was hugely impacted by Moses and his many efforts. The Cross Bronx Expressway is often cited as one of the worst highway projects ever built (Jane Jacobs) splitting communities and causing the rapid decline of the South Bronx. The Bruckner Interchange, right down the street, a project which was one of Moses' last, helped Interstate highway drivers but came to symbolize the local and national clash between urban communities and the encroachment of highways and the car.
While this small piece of urban history is long lost to many viewers and seems insignificant in light of current events, I believe it holds many lessons on progress and insights into our current environmental challenges.
Installation View of Betts Piece
