Thomias Radin Elevate above the madness, 2025

Combining oil, charcoal and spray paint on linen, with Elevate above the madness Thomias Radin, on its face, collapses form and meaning into materiality and technique. As though the joy of skill itself was enshrined, the handmade frame tenderly holds the canvas like an altarpiece.

As in many of Radin’s works, there are parts of the canvas that are unprimed and unpainted, and these blanks fall in-between collage-like scenes depicting a dark sea beneath a low horizon. Leaving behind a horizontal line at the painting’s core, the sketch of a delicate ankle curving into an abruptly bent hip bone drawn onto the bare canvas contrasts the detailed figuration of a winged dark torso adorned with ivory feathers and black cornrows. A pale rose shimmer spins through the work, accompanied by tiny brushstrokes reminiscent of petals carried by an early spring breeze. As the viewer’s gaze dives deeper into the depicted cloud formations, the titular elevation is performed by their eyes. The act of looking itself, enchanted by the works’s ethereal aura, bears gentle ascension.