Dots Right

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.

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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

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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.'