Raphaël Thierry is a plastic artist, painter, and illustrator with an insatiable curiosity, having embraced a wide range of artistic languages, from sculpture to video and drawing.

Born in Tunis in 1972 and raised in L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, Thierry moved to Paris in 1990. He graduated from the École supérieure d’arts graphiques Penninghen, where he was the top student in 1994, and received the Met de Penninghen prize for his body of work in 2004. Subsequently, he has pursued personal projects as a visual artist and developed several publishing and exhibition projects, notably in collaboration with Italian writer and philosopher Federico Nicolao.

As a resident of the Villa Médicis in 2006, he presented the exhibition Visions in Dust with Federico Nicolao in the Atelier du Bosco. The exhibition delves into the essence of dust and is accompanied by a joint publication: La Medesima Ombra (Edizioni I.O.), a collection of the artist's drawings and the writer's poetic fragments.

“I do what I can. I always try to start from scratch and satisfy my curiosity. Always in study and learning. I learn from failure and know very little. I believe in knowledge gained through practice. I want to ask questions and explore, not to get answers or find a formula. To be able to be surprised, to be continually astonished. The work comes first. It does what it wants. It emerges on its own.

I deeply believe that a work of art speaks to us, just as music speaks to us. But it is not about language. In fact, I think it is not about communicating anything. On the contrary, it is about freeing oneself from communication, which requires effort. Perhaps a lifetime. My quest is to strive for this freedom.”

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