Mickalene Thomas:
A Star in the Art World
Brooklyn, NEW YORK—Mickalene Thomas has made her mother proud. The Brooklyn-based artist has experienced a remarkable trajectory in the art world, building an impressive career over the past decade, punctuated with significant milestones. Perhaps her greatest achievement, “Origin of the Universe,” her first solo museum show, dubuted at the Santa Monica Museum of Art and recently opened at the Brooklyn Museum.
Thomas, who once painted abstracts, found her niche while still in school when she turned to more personal subject matter at the suggestion of an instructor. Her mother, a 1970s model who aspired to make a splash in the fashion world, became her muse, posing for photographs that her daughter used to inspire her canvases—fabulous mixed-media works that the artist finishes with a signature embellishment of rhinestones.
Today, Thomas is known for paintings that explore black female identity, sexuality and beauty and evoke power and femininity. Her mother continues to serve as an archetype. She also examines the narrative of domestic interiors (and the personal and cultural touchstones contained in them) through still life images that echo the home designs found in “The Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement.”
“Origin of the Universe” is composed primarily of works Thomas created after a 2011 residency at Claude Monet’s house and gardens in Giverny, France, and focuses on the female figure. She interprets classic works by other artists, including “Origin of the World” and “Le Sommeil (Sleep)” by Gustave Courbet and Édouard Manet’s “Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe.”
Thomas also delved into filmmaking for the exhibit. A poignant short documentary starring her mother, Sandra Bush, in which she recounts her life, struggles with drug addiction and recent health issues, is one of the most artful works in the show. At the conclusion of the film, “Mama Bush” says while she had always dreamed of becoming a super model, because of her daughter’s success she has instead become a star in the art world.
“Origin of the Universe” is on view at the Brooklyn Museum from Sept. 28, 2012 to Jan. 20, 2013.
All photos © Arts Observer
At center, “Tamika Sur Une Chaise Lounge Avec Monet,” 2012 (rhinestones, acrylic, oil and enamel on wood panel).
“Interior: Two Chairs and Fireplace,” 2011 (mixed-media collage).
From left, “Din, Une Tres Belle Negresse 1,” 2011 (rhinestone, acrylic and oil on wood panel) and “Qusuquzah, une très belle négresse #2,” 2011–12 (rhinestones, acrylic, and oil on wood panel).
Thomas make small collages to help her work out the details of images for her larger canvases. The exhibit includes a three-wall gallery of her collages.
Collage study for “A Little Taste Outside of Love,” 2007.
A gallery at the back of the exhibit includes four interior spaces designed like stage sets that have inspired Thomas’s interior studies.
Thomas’s work, along with books such as “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” and “Roots” by Alex Haley, add context to the interior spaces.
The interior spaces included in the exhibit include cultural artifacts such as this Diana Ross album cover and black literature.
From left, “Sandra: She’s a Beauty,” 2009 and “Mama Bush: (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher,” 2009 (both chromogenic photographs).
Photographs of Sandra Bush, the artist’s mother.
From left, “Portrait of Sidra Sitting,” 2012 (chromogenic print) and “Din, Une Tres Belle Negresse 1,” 2011 (rhinestone, acrylic and oil on wood panel).
At center, “Marie: Femme Noire Nu Couchee,” 2012 (rhinestones, acrylic, oil and enamel on wood panel).
Detail of “Le Dejeuner Sur L’Herbe: Les Trois Femme Noires,” 2010 (rhinestones, acrylic and enamel on wood panel), which was inspired by Manet.
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Madame Mama Bush in Black and White , 2007, printed 2011
by Mickalene Thomas
Photograph
About the Work
About Madame Mama Bush in Black and White
Although lacking the rhinestones and glitz of her paintings, this photograph is typical of Thomas’s interest in engaging with aspects of art history and cultural identity in her art. The lounging model Madame Mama Bush, a character featured in several works by Thomas, assumes a classic pose but stares at the viewer with the self-assuredness and power present in all of Thomas’s portraits of black women.
Thomas says, “From my experience in Western art history, when you see images of black women they’re generally depicted in positions of servitude or looked at through an anthropological perspective... I was interested in whether I could change those perspectives with the art that I made.”About the Artist
About Mickalene Thomas
While “bling” is typically worn around the neck of musical icons such as Beyonce and Jay Z, the rhinestones and glitter of Mickalene Thomas's paintings are important to her complex exploration of womanhood and our definitions of beauty. Combining modern materials such as acrylic and enamel with art historical motifs and allusions to predecessors like Manet and Matisse, Thomas creates magnetic portraits of strong, powerful women that challenge traditional notions of beauty, gender, and race.
The success of Thomas’ balance of the iconic and contemporary is evident to anyone strolling by New York’s Museum of Modern Art, where a large painting by Thomas titled Le Déjeuner Sur L'herbe: Les Trois Femmes Noires, referencing Manet's famous work, bedecks the façade next to the museum’s acclaimed restaurant, The Modern.