Mickalene Thomas

New York-based multidisciplinary artist Mickalene Thomas is renowned for paintings, collages, photography, video, and installations that draw on art history and popular culture to convey a contemporary vision of female sexuality, beauty, and power. Blurring the distinction between object and subject, concrete and abstract, real and imaginary, Thomas constructs complex portraits, landscapes, and interiors in order to examine how identity, gender, and sense of self are informed by the ways women are represented in art and popular culture.

Drawing from diverse sources, including the nudes of Edouard Manet and the 1970s black-is-beautiful movement, Thomas expands the representation of black women within the canon of art history. The artist emphasizes the collaborative nature of her creative process, through which the unique beauty and individuality of each model is manifested. Appearing in elaborately decorated interiors, often gazing directly into the camera, Thomas’s muses exude a powerful sense of self-possession, through which she also aims to embolden her viewers.

Perhaps best known for her large-scale and elaborate paintings composed of rhinestones, acrylic and enamel, Thomas introduces a complex vision of what it means to be a woman and expands common definitions of beauty. Her work stems from her long study of art history and the classical genres of portraiture, landscape, and still life. Her figures do not lend themselves to passive consumption, but are powerful agents who confront us. Material culture plays a central role in her work, and power dynamics shift as Thomas negotiates gender and sexuality through a contemporary female gaze that addresses questions of artifice, femininity, strength, and glamour.

Outside of her core practice, Thomas is a Tony Awards nominated co-producer, curator, educator and mentor to many emerging artists. While embarking on her own monumental solo shows, she simultaneously curates exhibitions at galleries and museums.

Thomas has received numerous prestigious awards, including the Pratt Institute Legends Award, Rema Hort Mann Foundation Honoree, and Artistic Impact Award from the Newark Museum (all in 2022), as well as the Meyerhoff-Becker Biennial Commission (2019) and Anonymous Was A Woman Award (2013). She is a cofounder of Pratt>FORWARD, an incubator for post-graduate artists, and serves on the boards of the Brooklyn Museum and MoMA PS1.