Tom Betts' exquisitely rendered artworks 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 containers, cups, saucers, and lights that dominate his oil paintings, the California-based artist takes realism to sophisticated new levels, successfully employing figuration to capture more elusive concepts, such as the nature of existence, in a way more commonly achieved through abstraction.