Exhibition Review: Mickalene Thomas
February 1971, 2021 © Mickalene Thomas
By Nicholas Rutolo
Black women’s agency in America was stolen from them long ago, and although younger generations don’t refute their humanity and we support their power crawl, restructuring the image that has been distorted since its American conception is hard to do in any medium. Providing a new lens into the disenfranchisement is a feat few accomplish because the words have been said, the pain has been seen, voices are being heard and anguish is being felt. Mickalene Thomas sets herself apart from most artists by manifesting a vision that embodies the resilience of the mid-to-late 1900’s through constructive methods that few have either the patience, or creativity to produce.
Nudity has always been seen as vulnerable, it’s baring yourself and presenting who you are in your most unguarded state, because although adornment parallels expression, sometimes less is more. Thomas does use jewelry and clothing to convey the personality and ideals of a certain time and place, but her adamant use of nudity, in Beyond the Pleasure Principle and other projects before it, exonerates black women’s bodies from the objectification that befalls them too often. Nudity is used as a kind of adornment; by “putting on” their nude bodies, they’re taking off the layers that hide their honest truth. We are forced to see black women for who they are, human.
June 1977, 2021 © Mickalene Thomas
Collages have always been used to piece together a central thesis through disconnected and sometimes abstracted parts, but Thomas not only pieces together backgrounds to expand beyond liminal space, she subjects her models to the style as well. Doing this provides a rare insight into the world that many of us don’t recognize about how media and history have shaped our perception of a marginalized and discriminated group. By pulling apart and re-placing with various aesthetic choices, Thomas chooses the ideas portrayed; Thomas exemplifies what’s important to her. She’s the one who dictates reality, and the enormity of the works, which in person are so much larger than any print in a monograph can represent, shows us that the reality she recognizes is not necessarily a part of the world some of us live in, or the ideas we recognize but may not fully embody.
Thomas uses models from the Jet Magazine pinup calenders from the 70s to expand on her exploration of the representation of black women's bodies in art, media, and politics. Eurocentric or white beauty standards were and are pitted against black women. Jet weekly displayed “Beauties of the Week”, a concept similar to our modern “Woman Crush Wednesday” as an attempt to subvert white beauty standards. Jet opposed the modern conceptions of what it’s like to be black in America by routinely covering violence perpetrated by white supremacy, while also platforming notable black figures to inspire and uplift the black community of America.
September 1977, 2021 © Mickalene Thomas
Born in Camden, New Jersey in 1971, Thomas works and lives in Brooklyn, New York. She has received degrees from Pratt Institute and Yale, and her work has been shown internationally. She’s had exhibitions in Miami, New Orleans, Columbus, Los Angeles, Houston, St. Louis, Brooklyn and many other cities across the U.S. She’s also had shows in Japan and Monaco, while simultaneously is part of permanent exhibitions in museums as notable as the MoMA, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and Whitney Museum of American Art. You can visit Beyond the Pleasure Principle at Levy Grovy in New York, London, and Hong Kong, and additionally you can see a complete collection of her work with thorough explanations of her style, history, and inspirations if you buy her self-titled monograph, Mickalene Thomas, from Phaidon publishers. You can find her on social media @mickalenethomas.
