Tim Crowder’s practice transforms traditional art forms, such as landscape painting and found object sculpture, into sardonic, incisive commentaries on the world around us. Both aesthetically pleasing and philosophically stimulating, his works explore contemporary and sometimes controversial themes like overconsumption, climate change, human behavior, and psychology. Inspired by artists like Rene Magritte as well as Freudian theories, he analyzes concepts of reality, fantasy, form, and perception through the guise of surrealism. He depicts eccentric animals and everyday objects in strange but comforting landscapes, as if illustrations from unconventional children’s books. More recently, Crowder has begun examination of line, shape, and color through dramatically minimal abstractions of the animals and landscapes he captured in the past. Through his playful and provocative paintings, sculpture and installations, he raises questions about the mysterious nature of objects and the function of art itself.
Tim Crowder was born in Missouri and attended Memphis College of Art. He has participated in exhibitions across the United States, including Mobile Museum of Art, Arkansas Art Center, The Southern Living Idea House; Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago; Garner Narrative Contemporary Fine Art, Louisville; Vita Gallery, Portland; and Cedar Crest College, Allentown, PA. He has received a number of awards, including the Purchase Award, Southeastern Juried Exhibition, Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL; Grand Prize, Delta Invitational, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock; Purchase Award from the Red Clay Survey at the Huntsville Museum of Art, AL; and a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant. His work is featured in the collections of Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock; Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis; Chase Bank, New York; Crown Equipment Corporation, New Bremen, OH; Fidelity Investments, Memphis, Charlotte; Hilton Hotel Corporation, Memphis; Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL; JMB Corporation, Chicago; Landers & Associates, Memphis; The Prudential Co., New York; and Nordstrom's stores in Dallas, Miami, Detroit, Honolulu, Chicago, Seattle, Indianapolis, Tampa, and Tacoma.
