Dawson Cole Fine Art | 12/7-12/31 | Carmel, CA

The Language of Light

Dawson Cole Fine Art showcases past and present still lifes by Tom Betts

String lights. Tea cups. Ice cream sundaes. Glass-bodied lamps. I assumed that, like many still life artists, Tom Betts chooses the objects for his compositions largely because they challenge his handling of light. But there is nothing random about his subject matter or the dialogue among the components. Each and every element is deeply symbolic; on a highly personal level that is also rooted in an ancient, universal language that can be found in the shape of every letter in our alphabet. But that’s a discussion for another time.

Hearth Light and Cups, oil on panel, 12 x 12"

Betts works in series that provides a visual map of his evolution as an artist, and represents a phase of cognitive development (his own, and humanity’s more broadly), as his intellectual inquiries takes him deeper into the esoteric.

In a grouping of works created in 2017, the recurring motif of string lights illuminates a glass lamp and casts warped shadows, like a coded language, against a stark wall. Betts relates this body of work to the early cave paintings—rich with linguistic symbolism in the shapes thrown against the walls by firelight.

The string lights and teacups persist in his next series, in which Betts shifted his focus from the shadows of the past to his embodied experience of life in California.

“It goes from an overlooked beauty of the shadow that is an old knowledge, to a beauty that is in front of us…a more pragmatic, tangible beauty,” says Betts, who literally projects the California landscape over his still life assemblages. “In the earlier works, I used the light to see the shadow, then I cast the light of the landscape over the tea cups…I didn’t take for granted the moment I experienced the landscape, and the shadow it created. Then I painted that from light.”

Mojave Mountains and Cups, oil on panel, 24 x 24"

The teacups hold a lot of meaning for Betts. They are representative of himself and his partner, and “our fragile reality,” he says. “And the beauty of fragility…cognition is fragile, relating to each other is fragile. The paintings become a way of protecting that fragility. It conveys a vulnerability, and an awareness of that vulnerability, and naturally, a desire to protect it.”

Archetypically, the cups symbolize nurturing and knowledge. Betts explains, “A student, or a child, can fill up their cup and whatever they retain, they can pass on to someone else and continue that nurturing.”

Chocolate and Vanilla Western, oil on panel, 12 x 12"

Lantern Light and Cup, oil on panel, 36 x 24"

Further building upon what came before, was the introduction of ice cream sundaes as the central subject, replete with pointy cones and syrupy cherries, and sharp shadows caused by the projection of a hazy desert landscape. “My partner really loves ice cream so [on one level] it represents him,” says Betts. “And the cup is there, and I’m trying to hold him up with the projection of the California landscape. And the ice cream is melting. Like anything of value, it just melts. Being in California with him, seeing it melt, trying to keep what I can. I wanted to protect it and embody it, and understand it as much as I can in that moment.”

The lights represent a continuity of time, memories, and experiences. When the lights appear without their connective wiring, they are symbolic of the moments, or what Betts calls “highlights of knowledge,” for which we have lost the context.

Each landscape transports Betts back to a specific physical space and the visceral, sensory memory associated with it, which is what keeps his paintings honest. If life is a string of little light bulb moments and snapshot experiences linked by a dissolving thread…

California Dessert Sands, oil on panel, 12 x 12"

“The cup is what I can take with me,” he says. “It becomes a bit of a self portrait in that moment, in that space.”

Examples from multiple bodies of Betts’ work, including brand new pieces, will be on view at Dawson Cole Fine Art in Carmel, California, from December 7 through December 31. His exhibition California Decadence runs concurrently with a group holiday exhibition titled Little Delights, featuring artists T.S. Harris, Larisa Safaryan, Elise Remender, Jian Wang and Richard MacDonald. —

Dawson Cole Fine Art
Lincoln Street & 6th Avenue • Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA 93921 • (831) 624-8200 www.carmel.dawsoncolefineart.com