Spotlight Artist

Thomas Bils

South
Artist profile photo

Goopy Bones

Hand holding a raspberry on a cocktail sword against a blue sky with two clouds.

oil on canvas

Gifts and Souvenirs/The Domestic Urge

Close-up of a medical procedure with gloved hands and surgical instruments.

oil on canvas, two parts

Anime Baseball Episode

Three hands holding small frogs, people wearing swimsuits by shallow water.

oil on canvas

Featured in New American Paintings1 / 3

Artist Statement

 Thomas Bils investigates the mutability of truth and narrative. Reflecting during the beginning of the opioid crisis on the absurdities familiar to him from growing up in the suburban South, Thomas crafts images that are often drawn from personal experiences, carefully blurring the borders between fact and fiction. In these slippages of recollection, he takes on the role of unreliable narrator to develop a situational ambiguity, prompting the viewer to identify where the fabrications occur in an attempt to grasp meaning and order.

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