Marathon,Texas

1957 Lincoln Premiere in Denton, TX, 2019

Through sensitive renderings of the American West and the solitary vehicles that define its landscape, I seek to capture the moment when quotidian becomes sublime. With fierce objectivity, I create portraits of decrepit classic cars and trucks, interested in the myriad of texture and detail found in these small-town scenes.


Devoid of any human presence, the intricate works walk a line between intimacy and distance, appearing at once private and abandoned, warm and isolated.



In my on-site adventures photographing the material, I am continually transfixed by the saturated colors and vast, foreboding skies of West Texas — a landscape that is energized by an evocative, mythic power. I believe that these cars — monolithic land-yachts rusting across the countryside — are what’s left of this American cowboy mystique. They're solitary figures in driveways, garages, at the edge of fields, somehow transmitting a personality and a history. For me, they conjure the romance and nostalgia associated with roaming the salvage yards around my hometown. The dramatic physicality of these vehicles and the light and heat of the atmosphere are memories that remain vivid in my imagination.



Tad Greenwald was born in Dallas, Texas in 1999. He will be receiving his BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Spring 2021. Marathon, Texas is his first solo exhibition — Greenwald has also exhibited in numerous group exhibitions including Preview #8 at the Leidy Gallery in Baltimore, Maryland and Art.Write.Now.2018 National Exhibition at the Parsons School of Design in New York, New York.