Awareness Post (#5)

For my awareness post this quarter, I'm focusing on Mickalene Thomas. Her work caught my eye because it uses rhinestones, and I've recently been trying to incorporate similar materials into my own work. Additionally, she works in acrylic and so do I, so any techniques that I like in her work will be much easier to implement in my own pieces. Thomas has worked in sculpture, video, and installation as well, but I've chosen to focus primarily on her paintings for analysis because I'm a painter. With her work, Thomas explores themes of human connection and the power and sexuality of African-American women.

Education and notable career accomplishments:

• BFA from Pratt Institute

• MFA from Yale School of Art

• 2000-2003 residency at the Studio Museum in Harlem

• Residency in Giverny, France at the Versailles Foundation Munn Artists Program

  Galleries*:

• Girlfriends, Lovers, Still Lives and Landscapes (2008, Chicago

• Mickalene Thomas (2009, New York)

• Mickalene Thomas: Put A Little Sugar In My Bowl (2010, Los Angeles)

• Mickalene Thomas: Mama Bush: One of a Kind Two (2011, Tokyo)

• Mickalene Thomas: More Than Everything (2011, New York)

• Mickalene Thomas: Origin of the Universe (2012, Los Angeles)

• Mickalene Thomas (2012, Boston)

• Gordan Parks: Segregation Series (2014, Albuquerque)

• Mickalene Thomas: Tête de Femme (2014, New York)

• Mickalene Thomas: Happy Birthday to a Beautiful Woman (2014, New York)

• Mickalene Thomas: Femme au divan I (2014, Paris)

• Mickalene Thomas: I was born to do great things (2014, Chicago)

• Mickalene Thomas: I am your sister (2015, Brussels)

• Mickalene Thomas at Giverny (2015, Savannah)

• Mickalene Thomas: Untitled (2015, New York)

• Muse: Photographs by Mickalene Thomas (2016, New York)

• Mickalene Thomas: Mentors, Muses, and Celebrities (2016, Aspen)

• Mickalene Thomas: the desire of the other (2016, Hong Kong)

• Mickalene Thomas: Do I Look Like a Lady? (2016, Los Angeles)

• Mickalene Thomas: Muse and tête-à-tête (2017, Baltimore)

• Mickalene Thomas: Waiting on a Prime-Time Star (2017, New Orleans)

• Mickalene Thomas: Découverte (2019, Aspen)

• Mickalene Thomas: Femmes Noires (2020, New Orleans)

• Mickalene Thomas: Beyond the Pleasure (2021, Paris)

• Mickalene Thomas: A Moment's Pleasure (2019, Baltimore)

• Mickalene Thomas: Avec Monet (2022, Paris)

• Where Is Consent In Art (Museums)? (2023, Oberlin)

• Mickalene Thomas: Portrait of an Unlikely Space (2023, New Haven)

• Mickalene Thomas: myblackisbeautiful (2024, Aspen)

*She's a very busy artist, so I've omitted some repeat showings of shows in different places. I've also omitted the list of group shows that she's participated in because it's over 200, so I decided to focus on a lightly abridged list of solo shows.

Mickalene Thomas, Din, une tres belle negresse

I really like the colors in this piece. They're super bright while still maintaining a cohesive look because of the limited color palette. I love the inclusion of the rhinestones, and I think that I should start carefully considering which parts of my pieces would be best to focus on with sparkles so that I could mimic the intentionality of Thomas's work. I also love the inclusion of patterns in her work, especially the way that the flowers of the background pattern are echoed by the flowers of the dress in the foreground.

Mickalene Thomas, Portrait of Mnonja

One thing that I immediately like about this work is the usage of the rhinestones. Their placement along contour lines is really interesting and compelling to me. I like that the smaller amount of sparkle makes what is there more of a focal point, and I think that this could be good to consider when making my own work. I also like the flow of the pose and the way that the cacophony of colors and patterns in the background works to contrast the powerful simplicity of the figure.