Cover image: I Think It's Gonna Rain Today (detail) by Khalif Tahir Thompson
© Entrée to Black Paris

Lily Heise of Je T'aime, Me Neither tagged me on her Facebook post about the vernissage for Khalif Tahir Thompson's solo exhibition entitled Chilly Winds Don't Blow at the Zidoun-Bossuyt gallery a few weeks ago, and I made a mental note to see the show well before its closing date in mid-May.

I recently did just that, and I was not disappointed!

Zidoun & Bossuyt façade
© Entrée to Black Paris

I discovered the gallery and the artist when I crossed Z&B's threshold at 51, rue de Seine in the 6th arrondissement. 

Thompson's mixed media paintings fill the walls on both floors of the gallery. 

Director Sabrina Bakis told me that all the works displayed represent people Thompson knows.

All are strikingly colorful.

Information panel and Chilly Winds Don't Blow
© Entrée to Black Paris

Church 82
2022 Mixed media
© Entrée to Black Paris

Two Genevas
2024 Mixed media
© Entrée to Black Paris

Each work contains independently displayed or overlapping letters and/or numbers, which Bakis told me are interwoven with intricate layers of symbolic associations.  These elements hint at the multifaceted nature of an individual’s identity.

Z&B references the letters and numbers with balloons of characters on the ceiling and walls.

Balloons on ceiling of ground floor
© Entrée to Black Paris

"E" balloon and Yellow Chords (2023, mixed media) on first floor
© Entrée to Black Paris

My favorite painting in the exhibition is hung on the first floor between two windows overlooking rue de Seine.  It is called I Think It's Gonna Rain Today.

I Think It's Gonna Rain Today
(2023) Mixed media
© Entrée to Black Paris

I Think It's Gonna Rain Today (detail)
(2023) Mixed media
© Entrée to Black Paris

I visited the entire exhibition before returning to the front room of the gallery to study the information presented about Thompson. This young man anticipates receiving his Master's degree in Painting/Engraving from Yale University in May 2024.  His work hangs in prestigious U.S. museums such as Pérez Art Museum in Miami, FL and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston in Houston, TX. 

Thompson fully embraces production through mixed media, using graphite to sketch his compositions, oils to bring his people to life, and materials such as denim, papyrus, leather, newspaper, and beads to define the settings in which he poses them.

Chilly Winds Don't Blow is the first solo exhibition mounted for Thompson in France.  It will be on display through May 11, 2024.

Zidoun & Bossuyt
51, rue de Seine
75006 Paris
Telephone: 01.87.44.78.81
Internet: https://zidoun-bossuyt.com
Metro: Odéon (Line 10)