Eustace Mamba, Mirror, Mirror, 2025, sewn mixed media // Alain Jean-Baptiste, Madame Gougousse, 2024, oil on canvas

Eustace Mamba & Alain Jean-Baptiste: Under the Influence
Curated by Ginger Rudolph
March 7, 2025 - March 30, 2025

OPENING RECEPTION
Friday, March 7 • 6:00PM – 8:00PM
RSVP here*
*Appreciated but not required

Paradigm Gallery + Studio is pleased to present Under the Influence, a two-person exhibition curated by writer and curator Ginger Rudolph. Rudolph believes that art has the power to document, process, and transform personal experiences, which she illustrates through the work of fine artist Eustace Mamba and painter Alain Jean-Baptiste. Rudolph encourages these artists to explore deeply personal forces–family memories, environmental traumas, career triumphs– that have shaped their creative paths to fashion a narrative championing cultural heritage, identity, and self-discovery. Through painting, sculpture, mixed media, photography, and installation, this exhibition showcases how these young artists navigate their inner worlds, utilizing their art practice as a means of reflection, healing, and revelation. Each work serves as a visual testament to the influences—seen and unseen—that have left an imprint on their lives and artistic expression. Using diasporic fiber art techniques, Mamba reconstructs the static ideas surrounding American Black life by uplifting the characters and city vignettes that fuel his perspective. Similarly, Jean-Baptiste reflects on the buildup and aftermath his family faced after a major natural disaster tore through their home in Haiti. Through the artwork, Mamba and Jean-Baptiste’s complex individualities converge in a globally understood story of emerging stronger from hardship–validating Rudolph’s doctrine of art as a personal journey. From intimate confessions to universal truths, Under the Influence challenges viewers to consider how their personal encounters can shape creativity, allowing art to become a vehicle for understanding, connection, and transformation.

For his second showing at Paradigm, Eustace Mamba approaches his work as a cross-section of history, sociology, and psychology interwoven into eclectic collaged portraits, cityscapes, and reconstructed ephemera. His multidisciplinary background in photography, graphic design, and painting gives him the confidence to experiment with different materials and processes to assemble an expansive configuration of contemporary Black life. As he charts his own perspective as an artist, he also carries the perspective of how his parents had to adjust and consume American culture while settling in the United States. Thus, Mamba feverishly documents his surroundings, characterizing the historical and cultural charge of his neighborhood while also being inspired by passersby. His process swells as he introduces found materials to build his characters: cigar wrappers, cardboard, fabric, and foil are identifiable yet are expertly tied together through Mamba’s signature sewn patterns and neon underpainting. His visible sewing notably brings together disparate objects to form engaging portraits or subway scenes, highlighting the labor and care he takes in constructing his artwork. He does not shy from recycling or deconstructing a work in progress back into raw material for his next piece. He leaves stitching as a token of memory as if his thread ties together the collective memory of his community near and far. Mamba leans into the necessity of using found material or old paintings, as each upcycled textile holds a story that is yet to be discovered and can be given a second life through his work. This operation allows Mamba to focus on hidden narratives, as he explains, “The materials reflect the stories of people that may have been looked down upon and venerates them. It raises them into something greater than what they would be initially perceived as.” As he rips, cuts, binds, and paints, he activates the connections, memory, and cultural indicators that bring his images to life.

For his debut showing at Paradigm, Alain Jean-Baptiste dives deep into his memory, happily growing up in Haiti until everything changed when a 7.0 magnitude earthquake destroyed his family’s home and immobilized the country’s economic growth. This led to his family fleeing to the United States with only fragments of the life they lived on the island to cling to. In the United States, they felt a cultural shock relearning societal norms while reestablishing a new life in a new place. Meanwhile, Haiti suffered from shortages of supplies while slowly rebuilding. While this disaster was a complete reset for his family, Jean-Baptiste does not allow it to define his heritage completely. In the exhibition, Jean-Baptiste unveils his Grass series, featuring portraits of Haitians in moments of peace as they lay on infinite beds of rice grass. The compositions are pulled from the artist’s recollection of bodies laid out in the sun after the earthquake. They had sought shelter in open fields but met their end during the disaster. Instead of looking away from the fatalities, Jean-Baptiste imagined them resting and enjoying the sun. Although solitary, they are content and safe, encapsulating the joy and security Jean-Baptiste had growing up. He resented the portrayal of Haiti in the media as a developing country with limited resources unable to recover from natural disasters when the reality was that it was a haven with beaches and rice fields, independently building itself back up as it had throughout history. In his artwork, Jean-Baptiste emerges from catastrophe with an appreciation of life that he carries every day and channels his resilience into his portraits. He centers his triumph in each piece but places them in a bucolic scene to remind his audience of where they come from. Even before the earthquake, Jean-Baptiste grew up learning to make the best out of what you have, and his determination is displayed in each of the paintings.

In this standout exhibition, Rudolph took herself on a deep dive into each artist’s background, getting personal and analytical with the work, until she walked away with new knowledge and a broader perception of Mamba of Jean-Baptiste as humans and as artists. It was only fitting to pair their works in an intimate gallery setting where their stories could be brought to life. Rudolph says, "These works are a compelling testimonial to the forces that shape us, mold our identities, and leave their indelible marks. They explore the duality of influence: how it nurtures and uplifts us while exposing the cracks and stains left behind by challenges and looming expectations.

The exhibition is a dialogue between the personal and the universal. It captures the impact of culture, environment, relationships, and personal struggles, offering viewers a glimpse into the artists’ stories while inspiring them to consider their own. Through the exploration of media, each piece speaks to the intricate interplay of light and shadow, growth and struggle, clarity and distortion. These artworks remind us that while life’s influences may taint us, they also give us the depth and richness that make us uniquely human.

Eustace Mamba & Alain Jean-Baptiste: Under the Influence will be on view on the second floor of the Paradigm Arts Building (12 N 3rd St, Philadelphia, PA 19106) starting March 7 until March 30, 2025.

About Ginger Rudolph
Ginger is an independent curator and arts consultant, serving as a vital link between artists, institutions, and the public. She leads the Mural Arts Fellowship for Black Artists and is a board member of The Rail Park, a historic railway transformed into a linear park that enhances Philadelphia's health, culture, and ecology. As the founder of HAHA Magazine (High on Art, Heavy on Antics), Ginger has committed her career to engaging audiences with the global arts landscape through insightful and accessible education. Building on this foundation, she co-founded HAHAxParadigm, a Philadelphia-based arts initiative that partners with artists, creatives, and brands to deliver impactful public art experiences that inspire and connect communities. She received her B.A. from Tyler School of Art + Architecture in Art History.

About Eustace Mamba
Eustace Mamba (b. 1992, NYC, USA) is an artist and designer whose interdisciplinary practice spans painting, collage, street photography, and mixed-media design. Rooted in his West Indian heritage and Manhattan upbringing, his work explores identity, community, and the fluidity of American life. Drawing from illustration, he constructs narratives that blend observation with invention, portraying both personal and collective experiences. Through repurposed materials and sewn elements, he challenges Western image norms while threading together themes of resilience and transformation.

Mamba holds an MFA and BFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. His work has been exhibited widely and is included in the collections of the Woodmere Art Museum, the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art, and the Museum at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

About Alain Jean-Baptiste
Alain Jean-Baptiste is a Haitian-American artist whose work explores memory, identity, and the narratives of his homeland. Born in Boston and raised in Haiti, he lived there until the devastating 2010 earthquake uprooted his family, leaving an enduring impact on his life and art. Painting became his refuge—a way to process the chaos and loss that followed. While always drawn to art, Alain began pursuing painting seriously in 2017. Primarily working in oil on canvas, he continually experiments with new mediums and techniques. His paintings challenge the distorted narratives often associated with Haiti, offering an intimate and authentic reflection of its culture, values, and people. Through his work, Alain seeks to reclaim and share Haiti’s stories on his own terms.

About Paradigm Gallery + Studio
Paradigm Gallery + Studio® was established in 2010 by co-founders and curators, Jason Chen and Sara McCorriston. The gallery exhibits meaningful, process-intense contemporary artwork by emerging and mid-career artists from around the world, with a focus on Philadelphia. In 2023, Paradigm moved locations and opened its new 5-story, 7,000 sq. ft. home, The Paradigm Arts Building, in Old City, Philadelphia. Open to the public, the building boasts multiple floors of exhibition space, integrated in-house design and printmaking, a dedicated events floor, and art advisory offices. With this, Chen and McCorriston expanded their vision for the greater Philadelphia arts community. The gallery is at the heart of this vision, anchoring Paradigm’s overall mission of increasing access to the commercial art world, supporting artists and advancing their careers, and collaborating with like-minded partners to build a more equitable, sustainable arts economy for all.

*Please email info@paradigm-gallery.com if you wish to be added to the digital collector preview list for the upcoming exhibition, or submit your request HERE.*

EXHIBITION HOURS
Thursdays • 10 AM – 6 PM
Fridays • 10 AM – 6 PM
Saturdays • 11 AM – 6 PM
Sundays • 11 AM – 5 PM
And by appointment outside of hours.

MEDIA CONTACT
For all inquiries contact info@paradigm-gallery.com

LOCATION
12 N. 3rd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106

SOCIAL MEDIA
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*Please email info@paradigm-gallery.com if you wish to be added to the digital collector preview list for the upcoming exhibition, or submit your request HERE.*