Mickalene Thomas

More Than Everything

September 15 - October 29, 2011
201 Chrystie Street

Press Release

Mickalene Thomas
More Than Everything
15 September - 29 October, 2011
201 Chrystie Street

Lehmann Maupin Gallery presents More Than Everything on view 15 September – 29 October, 2011 at 201 Chrystie Street.

In her second solo exhibition at Lehmann Maupin, titled More Than Everything, Mickalene Thomas presents a selection of works on paper in an intimate, salon style. Thomas has chosen this mode of presentation as an echo, not only of the early Modernist salons made famous by the likes of Gertrude Stein, but also as a reflection of the array of influences and sources that collect on her own studio walls. Seen together, these many pieces, including a series of new large-scale, Polaroid photographs, drawings, and an array of collages, help to reveal an aspect of Thomas’s work that encompasses the multiplicity of her artistic and studio practice. Although Thomas has noted that not every painting has a collage, every image starts with a photograph, staged in a wood-paneled corner of her studio, and which directly informs and often serves as the basis of her elaborate, rhinestone-clad paintings that explore notions of black female beauty and identity.

Thomas has said of her practice, “When I’m working with a historical image, I use photography as a way of capturing and reinterpreting the image. I take photographs and use them to create collages that further complicate my relationship with the historical source image.” In 2009, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, approached Mickalene Thomas to create a mural for its 53rd street window. For this commission, which she titled, “Le déjeuner sur l’herbe: Les Trois Femmes Noires,” Thomas photographed her models in the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden in a setting crafted to recall Edouard Manet’s iconic painting, “Le déjeuner sur l’herbe" (1863). Thomas’s reference to Manet and the inclusion of a Matisse sculpture as the fourth figure in the work pays tribute to the two artists, who, along with Romare Bearden, have strongly influenced the artist’s work.

Mickalene Thomas was born in Camden, NJ in 1971. Thomas earned a BFA in painting at Pratt Institute in 2000 and a MFA at the Yale University School of Art in 2002. In 2003, the artist participated in a residency at the Studio Museum in Harlem, NY. Thomas has exhibited extensively in both solo and group exhibitions including “Americans Now” at the National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C. (2010); “The Global Africa Project” at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY (2010); and “Mama Bush: One of a Kind Two” at the Hara Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2011). Forthcoming exhibitions include “30 Americans” at the Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C. (2011); “Origin of the Universe,” a solo exhibition at the Santa Monica Museum of Art (2012); and a solo exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum in 2012. Thomas’s work can be found in significant museum collections including the Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art in Overland Park, KS, the Rubell Collection in Miami, FL, and the American Art Museum, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Mickalene Thomas lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Artists in this exhibition

• Mickalene Thomas

Press

• Artforum Download PDF ()
• Velvet Magazine
• The New York Times Download PDF ()
• Loop 21 Download PDF ()
• The New Yorker Download PDF ()
• Photograph Magazine Download PDF ()
• The Village Voice Download PDF ()
• Time Out New York Download PDF ()
• Whitewall Download PDF ()
• The Washington Post Download PDF ()
• Art in America Download PDF ()
• Artinfo Download PDF ()
• The New Yorker Download PDF ()
• Artinfo Download PDF ()
• Arude Download PDF ()
• Paper
• Modern Painters
• Artinfo

Exhibition Works

MICKALENE THOMAS Tamika Sur Une Chaise Longue, 2008 linoleum, photograph, color-aide on wood panel 6.5 x 8.25 inches 16.5 x 21 cm LM15100


MICKALENE THOMAS Interior: Bedroom with Flowers, 2011 mixed media collage 11.25 x 8.75 inches (paper) 28.6 x 22.2 cm 19 x 17 inches (framed) 48.3 x 43.2 cm LM15058


MICKALENE THOMAS Landscape with Camouflage, 2011 mixed media collage 8.5 x 11 inches (paper) 21.6 x 27.9 cm 16.5 x 18.75 inches (framed) 41.9 x 47.6 cm LM15060


MICKALENE THOMAS She Ain't a Child No More, 2010 paper, photograph and tape on board 8 x 7 inches 20.3 x 17.8 cm LM15070


MICKALENE THOMAS I Learned the Hard Way, 2010 paper, photograph and tape on board 8 x 10 inches 20.3 x 25.4 cm LM15069


MICKALENE THOMAS Sleep: Deux Femmes Noires, 2011 mixed media collage 23.75 x 31.25 inches (paper) 60.3 x 79.4 cm 31.25 x 39 inches (framed) 79.4 x 99.1 cm LM15222


MICKALENE THOMAS Portrait of Mickalena, 2010 paper, photograph and tape on board 4.5 x 3.5 inches 11.4 x 8.9 cm LM15064


MICKALENE THOMAS Interior: Yellow Couch, Blue Foyer, and Fireplace, 2011 mixed media collage 8.5 x 9.25 inches (paper) 21.6 x 23.5 cm 16.5 x 17 inches (framed) 41.9 x 43.2 cm LM15442


MICKALENE THOMAS Le Jardin d'Eau de Monet, 2011 mixed media collage 13.5 x 19.25 inches (paper) 34.3 x 48.9 cm 21.75 x 27.25 inches (framed) 55.2 x 69.2 cm LM15234


MICKALENE THOMAS Left Behind, 2010 mixed media collage 4.5 x 6 inches (paper) 11.4 x 15.2 cm 12.5 x 14 inches (framed) 31.8 x 35.6 cm LM15065


MICKALENE THOMAS Landscape with Tree, 2011 mixed media collage 11.25 x 9.5 inches (paper) 28.6 x 24.1 cm 19 x 17.25 inches (framed) 48.3 x 43.8 cm LM15221


MICKALENE THOMAS Interior: Green and White Couch, 2011 mixed media collage 10.25 x 8.75 inches (paper) 26 x 22.2 cm 18 x 16.25 inches (framed) 45.7 x 41.3 cm LM15224


MICKALENE THOMAS Courbet 1 (Melody: Sitting), 2011 polaroid 24 x 20 inches (paper) 61 x 50.8 cm 34.5 x 30.5 inches (framed) 87.6 x 77.5 cm LM15337


MICKALENE THOMAS Courbet 2 (Melody: Centered), 2011 polaroid 24 x 20 inches (paper) 61 x 50.8 cm 34.75 x 31.25 inches (framed) 88.3 x 79.4 cm LM15338