Mickalene Thomas is a Contemporary American artist best known for depictions of African-American women and celebrities through collages of acrylic, enamel, and rhinestones. Often based in photography, Thomas’ practice utilizes both the aesthetics of Western painting and the heavily sexualized blaxploitation films of the 1970s. Through appropriated imagery the artist addresses issues of femininity, race, and beauty alongside personal histories and childhood memories, citing artists such as Carrie Mae Weems and Romare Bearden as early influences. Attend the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and later received her MFA at the Yale School of Art in 2002.
Additional Artworks
From Van Every/Smith Galleries at Davidson College
-
Ralph Gibson
Untitled, from Sacred Land, 2019
Archival pigment print
17 x 22 in (43.18 x 55.88 cm)
-
Shepard Fairey
The Future is Unwritten x Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, 2011
Screenprint on paper
24 x 18 in (60.96 x 45.72 cm)
-
Cort Savage
Canons, 2010
3 rubber band balls and corresponding x-rays. Each x-ray reveals a bronze cast human skull holding a book in its mouth. One holds a copy of a Christian Bible, one holds a copy of the Hebrew Tanakh and one holds a copy of the Islamic Qur’an
Dimensions variable
-
Ralph Gibson
Blue Vine, Bourgogne, 1992
Chromogenic print
20 x 16 in (50.8 x 40.64 cm)
-
J. William Yates
Maine, from RISD Portfolio, 1974
Gelatin silver print mounted to drawing board
5.25 x 10.25 in (13.34 x 26.04 cm)
-
Martha Lynn Duncan
Mist on Mountain, 1972
Etching and aquatint on paper
23.5 x 26 in (59.69 x 66.04 cm)
-
Maud Morgan
SXV, 1969
Screenprint on paper
14 x 28.6875 in (35.56 x 72.87 cm)
-
Rosemarie Beck
Two Women, c. 1960
Lithograph on paper
9.875 x 12.6875 in (25.08 x 32.23 cm)
About the artist
Mickalene Thomas
American
b. 1971