Lehmann Maupin Gallery is honored to present Mickalene Thomas: How to Organize a Room Around A Striking Piece of Art, a two-gallery exhibition on view from 14 November 2012 – 5 January 2013 at 540 West 26th Street and 201 Chrystie Street. The artist’s third solo exhibition at Lehmann Maupin will be presented in two parts: the Lower East Side gallery will comprise new large-scale paintings depicting landscapes and interior scenes as well as a series of short films created during her recent travels in Europe. In Chelsea, Thomas’s first documentary film “HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN” will be shown alongside photographs of her mother and long-time muse, Sandra Bush. Thomas will also re-create one of her tableau environments in the gallery, allowing viewers to fully immerse themselves in her world while watching the film.

Since 2010, when Thomas was commissioned by curator Klaus Biesenbach to create a large-scale mural for MoMA PS1 and a site-specific painting for MoMA’s restaurant The Modern, the surrounding landscape has played an increasingly prominent role in her work. The series of new paintings on view at 201 Chrystie Street were inspired by various art historical sources ranging from 19th-century Hudson River School to Romare Bearden, Henri Matisse, and Édouard Manet. Thomas was specifically drawn to Claude Monet’s infamous garden in Giverny, France, where she spent time while completing a residency at the Versailles Foundation Munn Artists Program. In her hands, Monet’s lush gardens and family home are re-claimed and re-contextualized to form new, contemporary narratives.