Thomas Bils

Thomas lives in Miami, FL. He received his BFA from New World School of The Arts. Bils has had recent group exhibitions at the Coral Gables Museum – Coral Gables, FL; Huxley-Parlour — London, UK; and The Armory Show (Spinello Projects) — NYC; as well as solo exhibitions at the NSU Art Museum – Ft. Lauderdale, FL and Spinello Projects, Miami, FL.  Bils’s work has been reviewed online and in print, including in New American Paintings and Tomorrow’s Talent Vol. III (Booooooom), among others. He is a current resident of Bakehouse Art Complex – Miami, FL; as well as having attended multiple residencies, including MASS MoCA — North Adams, MA and The Fores Project — London. His work is in the permanent collections of the NSU Art Museum and ICA Miami.

Collect Bean x The Art Kollective: What does growth mean to you?

Thomas Bils: Growth, to me, brings to mind a natural progression of time and events. Things can grow for the better, or they can grow for the worse, but either way, they’re growing. Perhaps I’m a fatalist.

Collect Bean x The Art Kollective: What role does art play in society, and how does your work contribute to that?

Thomas Bils: I think art serves as a way to communicate in a way that is cleaner and more universal than what language can often achieve. My work serves as a way to relate the universal strangeness of everyday living that we all experience.

Collect Bean x The Art Kollective: How do you see your artwork fitting into the larger art world or art history?

Thomas Bils: I’m not sure about art history, but I think perhaps some of my paintings can act as reference points to the general anxieties of our time.

Collect Bean x The Art Kollective: If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?

Thomas Bils: Just keep going; it’ll all make sense eventually.

Collect Bean x The Art Kollective: If you had to describe your work in only three words, what would they be?

Thomas Bils: Funny but distressing.