PARIS.- Esther Schipper is presenting Entre ciels et terres : contingences humaines, Thomias Radin’s third exhibition with the gallery and his first at the Paris space. On view are new paintings and sculptural works, as well as a wall painting.

Thomias Radin’s (b. 1993) Entre ciels et terres : contingences humaines bring together key elements in the artist’s practice. Especially conceived for the space in Paris, the exhibition begins with a suite of new paintings that reflect a sustained attempt to capture fleeting movements. Works appear executed in broad, dynamic gestures, with figures caught mid-motion. The figures are often seen only in fragments. Motifs of feet or muscular backs play with the ambiguous mix of beauty and threat. The tension felt in the depiction of young Black bodies ‒ objectified and instrument of cultural expression ‒ bespeaks this dual legacy.

In the front room, several paintings on wooden, hand-carved panels have a sculptural presence and retain an element of performance: the works, which each have differently shaped metal handles on the left and right sides of the panel, are akin to shields. Protective objects with images that have a heraldic intensity, employing symbolic motifs that recur in Radin’s practice ‒ wings, labyrinths, twisted figures ‒ and have mythical and spiritual connotations.

A wall painting in the adjacent space reinforces the recurring motif of water, central to Radin’s exploration of migration and the flow of knowledge. The mural references his 2023 solo exhibition at Galerie Wedding, Berlin, where he created a 15-meter-long depiction of waves, while also alluding to a scene in his short film RIVÂL, where two characters gaze at the sea, adding emotional depth to the motif. This Parisian iteration links Radin’s past and present works, with the exhibition title Entre ciels et terres : contingences humaines highlighting water’s role as a symbol of the fluid and interconnected nature of human experience.

Drawing on his series of Domino works ‒ oversized painted domino stones, often assembled in multi-part constellations ‒ Radin has created a new sculpture that evokes a bench or throne. The work continues his celebration of vernacular mathematics and honors everyday life in Guadeloupe, highlighting how knowledge is passed down and lasting connections are forged through these experiences. In this iteration, Radin expands on this theme by arranging the dominoes in random, corresponding numbers ‒ an intentional break from the rules of the game. This choice reflects the unpredictable nature of power, with the throne-like structure symbolizing how political systems often appear chaotic and unjustifiable from a citizen‘s perspective, where the rules seem arbitrary and incomprehensible. Through this, the sculpture not only pays tribute to his heritage but also critiques the dissonance between the perceived order of power and the randomness felt by those subjected to it.

Radin’s introduction of sculptural forms, situated between furniture design and mythic object, anchors the work in physical presence while imagining new architectures of being. Entre ciels et terres is not only a reflection on our fragile condition but a proposition: to define new spaces in which to exist, to craft new homes where we reclaim agency and shape the futures we desire.

The practice of Thomias Radin is grounded in embodied knowledge shaped by his background in dance and his upbringing between the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe and mainland France. Music and dance formally enter his painting through fragmented bodies, gestural brushstrokes, and the rhythms of hip hop, Gwo Ka, and Capoeira. His engagement with the legacy of Caribbean music and dance intersects with an examination of its long-underappreciated influence on avant-garde choreography and the important figures of contemporary dance: Alvin Ailey (1931 – 1989), Germaine Acogny (b. 1944) and Ismael Ivo (1955 – 2021). These figures, deeply influential to him, also stand as symbols of activism, spirituality, and knowledge.