Local Village Customs (2021)
Thomas Bils (b.1993)
Local Village Customs, 2021
Oil on canvas
Dimensions not published (~2m x ~2m)
NSU Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale, FL (USA)
Some works of art are so deeply rooted in the specifics of a particular time or place that I often wonder how anyone unfamiliar with the subject is able to appreciate anything about them other than technical artistry. This might be one of those works, but before I pay my due respects to Thomas Bil’s exceptional hyperrealist capabilities I’d like to share the personal memories that this work evokes.
I’ve spent enough time in South Florida to have experienced backyard swimming pools that look just like the one Bils depicts through the haze of a grubby metal screen. Is that screen on a door or window? It doesn’t matter, although despite having seen this work in person on numerous occasions I never once stopped to ask the question raised by the NSU’s wall text: “If screen windows are meant to keep bugs out, how did they penetrate the interior space, and what other menaces can intrude this domicile?”
Menace is a powerful word and I’m not convinced Bils’ intended this painting to trigger the same kind of unease viewers get when watching a slasher film. It’s more likely that Florida native Bils has the same kinds of memories I do of swatting away or squishing those bugs, or watching the windshield wipers methodically fail to remove as many splattered pairs as possible before you have to grumble your way out of the car to scrape them off the glass by hand.
Trips down memory lane are usually positive but I have no love for those bugs Bils depicts. They’re Plecia Nearctica, more commonly known as the Lovebug, because both during and after mating pairs remain together, even in flight, for up to several days. Think about that the next time you wake up hungover and get a proper look at the snoring one-night-stand whose bed you’re trying to slither out of.
This is a big painting, and for the purposes of perspective those lovebugs are depicted ginormously larger than life. If lovebugs were actually that big in person you’d never set foot in South Florida during their mating season. The Weather Channel would have red-alert advisory warnings and there would be tourism closure windows when all the theme parks shut down. Don’t worry, lovebugs are only about as long as your fingernail but thanks to Bils’ photorealistic painting he’s made them look every bit as disturbing as I remember them. And in case you’re wondering, yes, it’s especially weird when you see the two-headed versions, conjoined by their insect genitals, go flying by.
At this point it’s probably worth nothing to any UK readers that screens on doors and windows are a common sight throughout America, and not just exclusively in Florida. At least they used to be. The ubiquity of cheap air conditioning means most homes in Florida have done away with those flimsy, dirty screens, but I like that Bils has painted one. It’s an ultra contemporary image depicting something that is not quite obsolete, but certainly a quaint bit of Florida history.
Like many a screen door, Bils’ humour is warped. I can’t think of anything more subversive than painting a Florida landscape that focusses your attention on an insect infestation. I’ve never met him in person, so I don’t know if he’s actually funny in person, but Bils’ visuals have always made me smile. My first encounter with his work was a 2022 solo exhibition titled ‘Still Cheaper Than Paying’, which included a series of parking citations and utility bills that Bils used as canvas for drawings/paintings he then resold at the exact price of the overdue invoice. The images were rebellious and wacky and the concept had mischievous troublemaker written all over it. I loved it then, and four years later I’m still laughing about it.
That’s another reason why I like Bils and I like this work. He’s a painter with exceptional technical skills, but it’s evident through his visuals that he clearly appreciates that straight-up photorealism is a pointless expertise to flaunt in a world where everyone has a camera in their pocket and digital tools can create pretty much anything. No one cares anymore if you can paint a bouquet of flowers that looks exactly like the real thing. Contemporary painters needs to give, in their visuals, a compelling and unique reason why viewers should be looking in the first place. Or looking twice, because with Bils it seems he’s trying to create just enough confusion to get you to do a double take in order to get the joke.
I first saw Local Village Customs in that ‘22 solo at the NSU Art Museum. Shortly afterwards they acquired it and are now displaying it as part of their latest exhibition. It’s clear that the NSU Art Museum likes this work just as much as I do and I’m glad because it’s a work that deserves to be seen.
That’s why I like it.
I don’t love bugs but I love these bugs.
Additional reading:
Artist website: thomasbils.com
Artist Instagram: @thomasbils
Previously, on Why I Like It:
Jan — Patchwork of the Century (1951), Lilian Dring
Dec — 20:50 (1987), Richard Wilson
Nov — Don’t (2024), Diana Zrnic
Want more? Here’s a list of the first three dozen articles in this series.