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Thaddeus Radell Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

American, b. 1956
Thaddeus Radell’s paintings are constructed through a process of accumulation and erasure—layering paint, burlap, and wax in a slow excavation of form and feeling. His works unfold over time, both in their making and in their viewing. Figures emerge from abstraction, dissolve into texture, and reconfigure themselves with each encounter. Viewers are invited into a shifting psychological space where meaning is never fixed, but instead discovered through a deeply sensory engagement. Radell’s compositions evoke mythic and emotional narratives, yet resist specificity. They embody a kind of visual poetry—dense, luminous, and often dreamlike—where a scrap of burlap may simultaneously become flesh, smoke, or shadow. His paintings operate like visual cantos: a journey inward, where clarity is earned through immersion. Born and raised in Michigan, the son of two artists, Thaddeus Radell completed his B.F.A. at the University of Detroit/Mercy. He subsequently moved to New York City, where he received his M.F.A. Parsons School of Design, studying with Paul Resika and Leland Bell. He spent the next several years painting in the city and working as the studio assistant to Resika, Robert DeNiro, Sr. and Sydney Simon. In 1984 he moved to France, where he spent the next 14 years, dividing his time between studios in Paris and Provence. Radell returned to New York City in 2000, where he lived and worked until moving to Catskill, NY in 2019. He presently is a Professor at the Borough of Manhattan Community College/CUNY. Radell’s work is guided by an enduring belief in painting as a mode of transformation—both for the maker and the viewer.
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Artist: Thaddeus Radell
Dream

Dream

By Thaddeus Radell

Located in Atlanta, GA

"My work principally consists of deeply abstracted figure compositions--intuitive constructions that begin with random marks establishing larger masses of torsos, heads, and limbs in an undefined setting. The emphasis is almost purely on intuition. The figures are born of their surrounding environment, emerging only partially and fugitively from the layers of pigment. A narrative is evident but never overt. A crown, a shield, a boat, a wheel. Though the subject has recently coalesced around my reading of Dante and Shakespeare, the settings remain extremely vague- a beach, an interior, a woodland. The paintings are, in the end, meditations on the relationship between the protagonists in a wordless drama. In my paintings, I use a cold wax medium combined with dry pigments, oil paint, and embedded fragments of burlap. The surfaces eventually build up into a dense, rugged terrain." --Thaddeus Radell

Category

2010s Contemporary Thaddeus Radell Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Oil Crayon, Mixed Media, Handmade Paper, Graphite

Drawings from Mt Gretna XXIX

Drawings from Mt Gretna XXIX

By Thaddeus Radell

Located in Atlanta, GA

"My work principally consists of deeply abstracted figure compositions--intuitive constructions that begin with random marks establishing larger masses of torsos, heads, and limbs in an undefined setting. The emphasis is almost purely on intuition. The figures are born of their surrounding environment, emerging only partially and fugitively from the layers of pigment. A narrative is evident but never overt. A crown, a shield, a boat, a wheel. Though the subject has recently coalesced around my reading of Dante and Shakespeare, the settings remain extremely vague- a beach, an interior, a woodland. The paintings are, in the end, meditations on the relationship between the protagonists in a wordless drama. In my paintings, I use a cold wax medium combined with dry pigments, oil paint, and embedded fragments of burlap. The surfaces eventually build up into a dense, rugged terrain." --Thaddeus Radell

Category

2010s Contemporary Thaddeus Radell Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Oil Crayon, Mixed Media, Handmade Paper, Graphite

At the Shore

At the Shore

By Thaddeus Radell

Located in Atlanta, GA

"My work principally consists of deeply abstracted figure compositions--intuitive constructions that begin with random marks establishing larger masses of torsos, heads, and limbs in an undefined setting. The emphasis is almost purely on intuition. The figures are born of their surrounding environment, emerging only partially and fugitively from the layers of pigment. A narrative is evident but never overt. A crown, a shield, a boat, a wheel. Though the subject has recently coalesced around my reading of Dante and Shakespeare, the settings remain extremely vague- a beach, an interior, a woodland. The paintings are, in the end, meditations on the relationship between the protagonists in a wordless drama. In my paintings, I use a cold wax medium combined with dry pigments, oil paint, and embedded fragments of burlap. The surfaces eventually build up into a dense, rugged terrain." --Thaddeus Radell

Category

2010s Contemporary Thaddeus Radell Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Oil Crayon, Mixed Media, Handmade Paper, Graphite

Prodigal Son (VIII)

Prodigal Son (VIII)

By Thaddeus Radell

Located in Atlanta, GA

"My work principally consists of deeply abstracted figure compositions--intuitive constructions that begin with random marks establishing larger masses of torsos, heads, and limbs in an undefined setting. The emphasis is almost purely on intuition. The figures are born of their surrounding environment, emerging only partially and fugitively from the layers of pigment. A narrative is evident but never overt. A crown, a shield, a boat, a wheel. Though the subject has recently coalesced around my reading of Dante and Shakespeare, the settings remain extremely vague- a beach, an interior, a woodland. The paintings are, in the end, meditations on the relationship between the protagonists in a wordless drama. In my paintings, I use a cold wax medium...

Category

2010s Contemporary Thaddeus Radell Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Oil Crayon, Mixed Media, Handmade Paper, Graphite

Drawings from Mt Gretna, III

Drawings from Mt Gretna, III

By Thaddeus Radell

Located in Atlanta, GA

"My work principally consists of deeply abstracted figure compositions--intuitive constructions that begin with random marks establishing larger masses of torsos, heads, and limbs in an undefined setting. The emphasis is almost purely on intuition. The figures are born of their surrounding environment, emerging only partially and fugitively from the layers of pigment. A narrative is evident but never overt. A crown, a shield, a boat, a wheel. Though the subject has recently coalesced around my reading of Dante and Shakespeare, the settings remain extremely vague- a beach, an interior, a woodland. The paintings are, in the end, meditations on the relationship between the protagonists in a wordless drama. In my paintings, I use a cold wax medium...

Category

2010s Contemporary Thaddeus Radell Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Oil Crayon, Mixed Media, Handmade Paper, Graphite

Four Figures and a Shield

Four Figures and a Shield

By Thaddeus Radell

Located in Atlanta, GA

"My work principally consists of deeply abstracted figure compositions--intuitive constructions that begin with random marks establishing larger masses of torsos, heads, and limbs in an undefined setting. The emphasis is almost purely on intuition. The figures are born of their surrounding environment, emerging only partially and fugitively from the layers of pigment. A narrative is evident but never overt. A crown, a shield, a boat, a wheel. Though the subject has recently coalesced around my reading of Dante and Shakespeare, the settings remain extremely vague- a beach, an interior, a woodland. The paintings are, in the end, meditations on the relationship between the protagonists in a wordless drama. In my paintings, I use a cold wax medium combined with dry pigments, oil paint, and embedded fragments of burlap. The surfaces eventually build up into a dense, rugged terrain." --Thaddeus Radell

Category

2010s Contemporary Thaddeus Radell Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Oil Crayon, Mixed Media, Handmade Paper, Graphite

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3 Figures, II

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"My work principally consists of deeply abstracted figure compositions--intuitive constructions that begin with random marks establishing larger masses of torsos, heads, and limbs in an undefined setting. The emphasis is almost purely on intuition. The figures are born of their surrounding environment, emerging only partially and fugitively from the layers of pigment. A narrative is evident but never overt. A crown, a shield, a boat, a wheel. Though the subject has recently coalesced around my reading of Dante and Shakespeare, the settings remain extremely vague- a beach, an interior, a woodland. The paintings are, in the end, meditations on the relationship between the protagonists in a wordless drama. In my paintings, I use a cold wax medium combined with dry pigments, oil paint, and embedded fragments of burlap. The surfaces eventually build up into a dense, rugged terrain." --Thaddeus Radell

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2010s Contemporary Thaddeus Radell Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

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Thaddeus Radell figurative drawings and watercolors for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Thaddeus Radell figurative drawings and watercolors available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Thaddeus Radell in crayon, graphite, handmade paper and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 21st century and contemporary and is mostly associated with the contemporary style. Not every interior allows for large Thaddeus Radell figurative drawings and watercolors, so small editions measuring 17 inches across are available. Thaddeus Radell figurative drawings and watercolors prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $470 and tops out at $1,075, while the average work can sell for $675.