A discovery of my fondness for dots, dot patterns and round shapes: The result of a massive file reorganization.
I shoot everywhere I go. Images get used for blogs, cards, and sometimes even in my design work. While doing a cleanup of my thousands of photos, I began to see themes and patterns emerge.
The majority of my shots from the past 16 months are outdoors – nature or architecture – for obvious reasons. But when I took a deeper dive, roughly 5-10 years back, and looked at the range of images, that's when I saw a repetition of form. Whether an actual object with dots or the framing of something to form dot patterns, there was no denying that, as with artist Yayoi Kusama, I like dots.
Here’s my short curated collection. Hope you enjoy it.
Dots in Everyday Objects – More or Less
Dot light in the lobby (staircase in the background) of the Museum of the City of New York | 2015
Decorated and dotted Easter eggs, my work | 2012
Overhead view of sand glass samples from an exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York | 2019
Stacked colanders from Public Art Fund’s Kitchen Trees exhibit in City Hall Park | 2018
Civil rights button and pins from the New York Public Library’s You Say You Want a Revolution: Remembering the 60s exhibit | 2018
Dots in Art, Design + Fashion
Dot sculpture installation in an archway on Governor’s Island | 2019
El Lissitzky print from The Jewish Museum’s Avant-Garde in Vitebsk exhibit | 2018
From the Art on Paper Show, a grouping of individually ornamented dots | 2018
Alexander Calder’s playful, upthrusting dots sculpture, at the Whitney’s Hypermobility exhibit | 2017
Front circular detail of a Samantha Sandbrook sculpture installation at ICFF | 2019
Patrick Kelly’s mismatched button-applique dress from the Black Fashion Designers exhibit at the Museum at FIT | 2017
A design show of Cooper Hewitt’s permanent collection featured this 1973 poster from Ken White, Equal Opportunity / Color Blind (detail shown) | 2018
From the Art on Paper Show, a print of just dots (detail) | 2018
Yayoi Kusama’s The Ascension of Polka Dots on the Trees at the New York Botanical Garden’s current exhibit | 2021
Everything is Design exhibit – Paul Rand’s work featuring his “Dot Fantasy” fabric at the Museum of the City of New York | 2015
The Museum of Art and Design (MAD) show, Vera Paints a Scarf, celebrated Vera Neumann’s work and process; sketch of the designer’s logo | 2019
Dots in Nature
Dotted pink flowers as part of the landscape design on Little Island | 2021
A New York City Nor’Easter captured with snowflakes as abstract dots | 2005
Dotted and spotted leaf plant at the New York Botanical Garden | 2019
What themes or objects do you capture as photos?
All photos: © 2005-2021 Janet Giampietro.
Top Photo: © 2021 Janet Giampietro | From the New York Botanical Garden’s current exhibit, detail of Yayoi Kusama’s 'The Ascension of Polka Dots on the Trees.'
