Mickalene Thomas

Mickalene Thomas.JPG

Untitled #15

Sagaponack

Mickalene Thomas was born in Camden, New Jersey in 1971 and is currently based in New York.

She is best known for her elaborate paintings composed of rhinestones, acrylic and enamel. She frequently references art history with particular interest in classical portraiture, constructed interiors, and iconic representations of the female form. References to Édouard Manet, Henri Matisse, Romare Bearden and Gustave Courbet may be found throughout her oeuvre. While the artist’s earlier works focused on classical depictions of the female form, primarily using powerful black women as subjects, her latest work more boldly conceptualizes female faces from collaged geometric cutouts. With an affinity for rhinestones and glitter, Thomas utilizes these materials in addition to introducing screen-printing to her practice, giving her paintings a new dimensionality.

In this painting, Thomas looks to early 20th century Cubism and contemporary Pop references, fragmenting and reducing portraiture to its most formal and geometric elements to create a larger-than-life portrait of her model.

Work appears in

  • Art Institute of Chicago

  • Baltimore Museum of Art

  • Brooklyn Museum

  • International Center of Photography

  • Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

  • Museum of Modern Art

  • National Portrait Gallery

  • New York Public Library

  • Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts

  • San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

  • Seattle Art Museum

  • Smithsonian American Art Museum

  • Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

  • Studio Museum in Harlem

  • Whitney Museum of American Art

  • Yale University Art Gallery