Miami-based artist, Tim Buwalda explores the relationship between an urban city, and the resilience of the land it is often laid upon. Here, in Bow Tie Boy, Buwalda sets a classic 1987 Chevy Caprice in a driveway surrounded by tropical greenery and Spanish terracotta tile, iconic of the sunny south Florida setting. The artist consistently elevates his subjects through strong displays of formalism placing inanimate still lives in setting that activate, bringing to life a narrative that lays just beneath the surface. He separates his style from photorealistic reproductions and places his practice in the realm of naturalism via the malleable treatment of his subjects. Buwalda illuminates the beauty of shape and contour through this meditative rendition of his automotive subject. 

Tim Buwalda (*1975, West Palm Beach, FL) earned his BFA at New World School of the Arts in Miami, FL. Solo exhibitions by Buwalda include, Neighborhood Projects, LnS Gallery, Miami, FL (2019), Buwalda’s Body Shop, North Miami Avenue, Miami, FL (2014), and The Modern Prometheus, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami, FL (2014). He has participated in group exhibitions including, Oolite, and The Collective Debut, LnS Gallery, Miami, FL (2017), Alternative Contemporaneity: TAZ, Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL (2015), Vanishing Points, Bass Museum of Art, Miami, FL (2011), Drive, David Klein Gallery, Detroit, MI (2010), Florida Contemporary, Naples Museum of Art, Naples, FL, and, Boy, oh Boy!, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami, FL (both 2010). The work of Buwalda resides in the permanent collections of the Pérez Art Museum Miami (Miami, FL) and Institute of Contemporary Art of Miami (Miami, FL).