ABOUT THE ARTIST
New York-based artist Mickalene Thomas is best known for her 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. Inspired by various sources that range from the 19th century Hudson River School to Édouard Manet, Henri Matisse, and Romare Bearden, she continues to explore notions of beauty from a contemporary perspective infused with the more recent influences of popular culture and Pop Art.
Mickalene Thomas has been included in numerous important solo and group exhibitions worldwide, including Mickalene Thomas: Origin of the Universe, Brooklyn Museum and Santa Monica Museum of Art; Mickalene Thomas, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; Mama Bush: One of a Kind Two, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; 30 Americans, Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C.; and American Now, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C. The artist's work is part of significant public collections, including New York's Brooklyn Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Studio Museum in Harlem, and Whitney Museum of American Art; and Art Institute of Chicago; Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art among others. She is represented by Lehmann Maupin, New York; Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects; and Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris.