Thomias Radin Soil Festivities, 2024
Oil on linen, artist’s wood frame
180 x 140 x 5 cm
Soil Festivities is an oil painting on canvas in artist wooden frame.
The work depicts a Black man captured in motion, as if dancing. One sees the back of his cornrowed head clearly whereas the rest of his body seems to quiver, the painterly strokes making up his back and pants suggesting movement. The central figure is ringed by colorful brushstrokes rendered with expressive flourish as if emerging spontaneously out of the unprimed canvas. In the background of the painting, one sees a dark blue-green ocean and a burning horizon.
This composition of this work is testament to the central role of movement and dance in the artist’s practice, which also includes performance and film. The bold brushstrokes similarly speak to movement in the contexts of dance and painting. The paint splattering in segments of the work may also be read as the soil referenced in the title or perhaps the title means a celebration of returning to one's roots. Radin has spoken about the importance of water and differently tempered horizons as being references to his own nostalgia and memory for his homeland, the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. In this particular work, the horizon is painted in a warm orange which can be seen as a metaphor suggesting hope.
The work depicts a Black man captured in motion, as if dancing. One sees the back of his cornrowed head clearly whereas the rest of his body seems to quiver, the painterly strokes making up his back and pants suggesting movement. The central figure is ringed by colorful brushstrokes rendered with expressive flourish as if emerging spontaneously out of the unprimed canvas. In the background of the painting, one sees a dark blue-green ocean and a burning horizon.
This composition of this work is testament to the central role of movement and dance in the artist’s practice, which also includes performance and film. The bold brushstrokes similarly speak to movement in the contexts of dance and painting. The paint splattering in segments of the work may also be read as the soil referenced in the title or perhaps the title means a celebration of returning to one's roots. Radin has spoken about the importance of water and differently tempered horizons as being references to his own nostalgia and memory for his homeland, the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. In this particular work, the horizon is painted in a warm orange which can be seen as a metaphor suggesting hope.