California Decadent Noir is the latest series of oil paintings by Tom Betts. Each is 12 x 12 inches, oil on panel taking 16 months to complete by hand. The many minor adjustments required to represent the illusion of light and landscapes blanketing the objects provided the complex and arduous platform ideal to Betts’ signature disciplined methodology and progression further expanding and elevating the limitations of oil painting.

Tom Betts’ exquisitely rendered objects undoubtedly fit into the tradition of realist painting, but there is far more at work here than what meets the eye. Adding deep layers of meaning and metaphor to the objects that dominate his oil paintings, the Orange County–based artist takes realism to sophisticated new levels. Observing his subjects from both life and photographs, he carefully captures nuances of light and shadow, line and form to create atmospheric images that lure the viewer in with their mysterious subjects.