Mickalene Thomas
Portrait de Priscilla Le Petit Chien, 2012
In her texturally rich paintings, Mickalene Thomas examines the popular characterization of black female identity, celebrity, and sexuality. Crafted with acrylic, rhinestones, and enamel, the vibrant interwoven patterns adorning Thomas’ work are inspired by her childhood in the 1970s. Thomas chooses to depict powerful women such as her mother, celebrities, and iconic art-historical figures. In a 2010 photograph entitled Le déjeuner sur l’herbe: Le Trois Femme Noires (2010), Thomas re-stages Édouard Manet’s famous image, substituting his painted figures for provocatively dressed black women. Such works demonstrate Thomas’s sustained interest in visualizing the black woman’s relationship both to art history and to contemporary culture at large.
In her texturally rich paintings, Mickalene Thomas examines the popular characterization of black female identity, celebrity, and sexuality. Crafted with acrylic, rhinestones, and enamel, the vibrant interwoven patterns adorning Thomas’ work are inspired by her childhood in the 1970s. Thomas chooses to depict powerful women such as her mother, celebrities, and iconic art-historical figures. In a 2010 photograph entitled Le déjeuner sur l’herbe: Le Trois Femme Noires (2010), Thomas re-stages Édouard Manet’s famous image, substituting his painted figures for provocatively dressed black women. Such works demonstrate Thomas’s sustained interest in visualizing the black woman’s relationship both to art history and to contemporary culture at large.
