Mickalene Thomas
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The Kitchen Center for Video, Music, Dance, Performance, Film, and Literature
The Kitchen Center for video, music, dance, performance, film, and literature Fall 2016 Season Upcoming Fall 2016 Upcoming Winter 2017 The Kitchen presents Sondra Perry: Resident Evil Philippe Quesne: La Mélancolie des November 2–December 10. dragons In 1971, Sun Ra said “Black people need a January 10–14, 8PM. $25. mythocracy, not a democracy because they’ll A band of longhaired metalheads decide that the never make it in history.…Truth is not snowy forest where their hatchback has stalled permissible for me to use because I’m not might be the perfect location to build a new righteous and holy, I’m evil, that’s because I’m heavy metal-themed amusement park. A help- black and I’m not subscribed to any types of ful stranger is invited into their world of classic righteousness.” Perry’s new video examines this rock, medieval recorders, and large inflatable active disinterest in the respectability that sculptures. An international audience favorite, blackness has been perpetually asked to earn by this three-dimensional poem is full of visual white culture. Using the lens of the Alien movie wonder, joy and melancholy, and sincere delight franchise—one which has been providing in human existence. Presented by The Kitchen allegories of colonialism and mutability for as part of The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Xaviera Simmons: CODED decades—Perry’s work asks: how do agents of Festival. power behave when their subjects become absolutely unpredictable, fluidly inhabiting Raúl De Nieves and Colin Self: The Fool societal norms in order to destroy them? Curated February 9–11, 8PM. -
Xaviera Simmons '05 Charles Flint Kellogg Award in Arts and Letters
Xaviera Simmons '05 Charles Flint Kellogg Award in Arts and Letters Xaviera Simmons’s sweeping body of work centers around photography and includes performance, choreography, video, sound, sculpture, and installation. Her interdisciplinary practice is rooted in shifting definitions of landscape; character development; art, political, and social histories; and the interconnectedness of formal processes. Simmons received her bachelor’s degree from Bard College after spending two years on a walking pilgrimage with Buddhist monks retracing the transatlantic slave trade. She completed the Whitney Museum’s Independent Study Program in Studio Art while simultaneously completing a two-year actor training with the Maggie Flanigan Studio. Simmons received Agnes Gund’s Art for Justice Award and Denniston Hills’ Distinguished Performance Artist Award, both in 2018. Her work is part of numerous upcoming exhibitions and projects including Sundown at David Castillo Gallery, Miami; The Restless Earth, curated by Massimiliano Gioni, at the Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. (2019); and Miami-Dade County Art in Public Places Commission (2018–19), among many others. Recent solo exhibitions include Convene at Sculpture Center, New York; Overlay at Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University; and The Gold Miner’s Mission to Dwell on the Tide Line, at Modern Window, Museum of Modern Art, New York. Current and recent museum group exhibitions include The Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina; MassArt, Boston; Renaissance Society, Chicago; Seattle Art Museum; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Prospect.4, New Orleans; Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Milan; Studio Museum in Harlem; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; Cincinnati Art Museum; and Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco. -
Xaviera Simmons at Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro - Burnaway
6/14/2021 Don’t Forget: Xaviera Simmons at Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro - Burnaway Don’t Forget: Xaviera Simmons at Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro BY SUSAN LEE MACKEY MARCH 11, 2021 https://burnaway.org/daily/dont-forget-xaviera-simmons-at-weatherspoon-art-museum-greensboro/ 1/9 6/14/2021 Don’t Forget: Xaviera Simmons at Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro - Burnaway Xaviera Simmons, Index Two, Composition Three, 2012; Chromogenic color print, 50 x 40 inches. Edition of 3. Courtesy of the artist and David Castillo, Miami. © Xaviera Simmons n view at the Weatherspoon Art Museum is a small exhibition of photographs by Xaviera Simmons, currently the Falk Visiting Artist at UNC Greensboro. https://burnawayO.org/daily/dont-forget-xaviera-simmons-at-weatherspoon-art-museum-greensboro/ 2/9 6/14/2021 Don’t Forget: Xaviera Simmons at Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro - Burnaway Simmons’ artistic works spans multiple genres, and she sees herself as “archivist, image maker, producer, director and sometimes actor.” But her work is not delineated by genres, rather, each O project is part of an ongoing exploration of ideas: abolition, reparations, undoing whiteness, and, especially in this exhibition, archival research. The photographs in this exhibition were made over the course of ten years. Included are six images from her Index series, 2 from her Sundown series, and 1 landscape self-portrait. The Sundown series is named after “sundown towns,” areas in which Black folks and other people of color faced heightened violence after dark. In each Sundown image, Simmons photographs herself holding an archival image for her viewer to confront while she looks elsewhere. -
Spelman College Museum of Fine Art Launches 2017 with a Solo Exhibition by Acclaimed Artist Mickalene Thomas
FOR 350 Spelman Lane Box 1526 IMMEDIATE Atlanta, GA 30314 RELEASE museum.spelman.edu The only museum in the nation emphasizing art by women of the African Diaspora MEDIA CONTACTS AUDREY ARTHUR WYATT PHILLIPS 404-270-5892 404-270-5606 [email protected] [email protected] T: @SpelmanMedia T: @SpelmanMuseum FB: facebook.com/spelmanmuseum January 31, 2017 Spelman College Museum of Fine Art Launches 2017 with a Solo Exhibition by Acclaimed Artist Mickalene Thomas Mickalene Thomas: Mentors, Muses, and Celebrities February 9 – May 20, 2017 ATLANTA (January 31, 2017) – Spelman College Museum of Fine Art is proud to present Mickalene Thomas: Mentors, Muses, and Celebrities, an exhibition featuring new work by acclaimed painter, photographer, sculptor, and filmmaker Mickalene Thomas, as a highlight of its 20th anniversary celebration. This solo exhibition, which is organized by the Aspen Art Museum, features photography, mirrored silkscreen portraits, film, video, and site specific installations. Thomas edits together rich portraits of herself and iconic women from all aspects of culture—performers, comedians, dancers, and other entertainers—at play in her life and in her art. Angelitos Negros, 2016 2-Channel HD Video, total running time: 23:09 Courtesy the artist, Lehmann Maupin, New The exhibition encourages viewers to consider deeply, how York and Hong Kong and Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York personal and public figures have reflected, re-imagined, and altered their own self-image to create a larger narrative of what it means to be a woman in today’s society. The exhibition makes its Southeast debut February 9, 2017, and will be on view at the Museum through May 20, 2017. -
Contemporary Collection
TAKE A LOOK TAKE Mickalene Thomas (American, born 1971) Naomi Looking Forward #2, 2016 Rhinestones, acrylic, enamel and oil on wood panel 84 × 132 in. (213.4 × 335.3 cm) Purchase, acquired through the generosity of the Contemporary and Modern Art Council of the Norton Museum of Art, 2016.245a-b © 2018 Mickalene Thomas / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York norton.org A CLOSER LOOK contemporary collection Mickalene Thomas Naomi Looking Forward #2, 2016 ABOUT The Artwork The Artist Naomi Looking Forward #2 portrays the supermodel Naomi Mickalene Thomas was born in 1971 in Camden, New Jersey. Campbell reclining on a couch, supporting her raised torso She studied art at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, on her left elbow. The pose recalls many paintings of women before earning her Masters of Fine Art degree from Yale from the Renaissance to the present. However, as Naomi University in 2002. During the past decade, Thomas has twists to look to the right, her right hand pulls her left leg up received numerous honors and awards, and her artwork has over her right leg. Curiously, the calves and feet are distinctly been exhibited and collected by museums around the world. paler than Naomi. In fact, they are a photographic detail She lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. of a famous painting in the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Her compelling, lavishly executed paintings and photographs Grand Odalisque by 19th-century French artist Jean Auguste explore gender and race. Through her understanding of Dominique Ingres (pronounced “Ang”). By painting a fully art history, Thomas often juxtaposes classic, European clothed, extremely successful African-American woman in representations of beauty, such as the reclining figure, with the pose of an earlier nude, Thomas appropriates a long- more modern concepts of what it means to be a woman. -
Bma Presents Powerful Photographs Reinterpreting Masterworks of Painting
MEDIA CONTACTS: Anne Brown Sarah Pedroni Jessica Novak 443-573-1870 BMA PRESENTS POWERFUL PHOTOGRAPHS REINTERPRETING MASTERWORKS OF PAINTING BALTIMORE, MD (February 26, 2016)—The Baltimore Museum of Art presents four large-scale, dramatic color photographs that bring new meaning to masterworks of painting in On Paper: Picturing Painting, on view March 30—October 23, 2016. The featured works combine elements of historical paintings with traits particular to photography to create images with a unique and powerful presence. At the end of the 20th century, a number of artists created photographs that seemed to share more attributes with painting than with photography’s conventional roles within the fields of journalism and advertising. “The images in this exhibition take this comparison a step further by reinterpreting masterworks of painting as photographs,” said Kristen Hileman, Senior Curator of Contemporary Art. “In some case fashioned as an homage, in others a critique.” Examples include Rineke Dijkstra’s Hel. Poland, August 12, 1998 (1998), Andres Serrano’s Black Supper (1990, printed 1992), Starn Twins’ Large Blue Film Picasso (1988–89), and Mickalene Thomas’ Le déjeuner sur l’herbe: Le Trois Femmes Noires (2010). These works were influenced respectively by Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus (c. 1486), Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper (1494–99), Pablo Picasso’s Deux femmes nues assises (1921), and Édouard Manet’s Le dejeuner sur l’herbe (1863). The exhibition is curated by Senior Curator of Contemporary Art Kristen Hileman. Image Credit: Mickalene Thomas. Le déjeuner sur l’herbe: Les Trois Femmes Noires. 2010. The Baltimore Museum of Art: Collectors Circle Fund for Art by African Americans, and Roger M. -
42 Artists Donate Works to Sotheby's Auction Benefitting the Studio Museum in Harlem
42 Artists Donate Works to Sotheby’s Auction Benefitting the Studio Museum in Harlem artnews.com/2018/05/03/42-artists-donate-works-sothebys-auction-benefitting-studio-museum-harlem Grace Halio May 3, 2018 Mark Bradford’s Speak, Birdman (2018) will be auctioned at Sotheby’s in a sale benefitting the Studio Museum in Harlem. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND HAUSER & WIRTH Sotheby’s has revealed the 42 artists whose works will be on offer at its sale “Creating Space: Artists for The Studio Museum in Harlem: An Auction to Benefit the Museum’s New Building.” Among the pieces at auction will be paintings by Mark Bradford, Julie Mehretu, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Glenn Ligon, and Njideka Akunyili Crosby, all of which will hit the block during Sotheby’s contemporary art evening sale and day sales in New York, on May 16 and 17, respectively. The sale’s proceeds will support the construction of the Studio Museum’s new building on 125th Street, the first space specifically developed to meet the institution’s needs. Designed by David Adjaye, of the firm Adjaye Associates, and Cooper Robertson, the new building will provide both indoor and outdoor exhibition space, an education center geared toward deeper community engagement, a public hall, and a roof terrace. “Artists are at the heart of everything the Studio Museum has done for the past fifty years— from our foundational Artist-in-Residence program to creating impactful exhibitions of artists of African descent at every stage in their careers,” Thelma Golden, the museum’s director and chief curator, said in a statement. -
Art of Mickalene Thomas Lesson Guide Use These Slide by Slide
Art of Mickalene Thomas Lesson Guide Use these slide by slide notes to follow along with the Mickalene Thomas powerpoint. Slide 1: Mickalene Thomas is a contemporary African-American visual artist based in New York. Slide 2: She is best known for her work using rhinestones, acrylic, and enamel. Is there anyone here that you recognize? Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Condoleezza Rice (66th U.S. Secretary of State) Slide 3: Prompt Questions: Based on these photos, what are similarities that you notice between them? What do you think the women are thinking? How do they carry themselves? What are other things you notice in the images? Describe the colors, patterns, and shapes. Thomas's collage work is inspired by Impressionism, Cubism, Dada and the Harlem Renaissance art movements. Impressionism: style of art developed during the late 19th century - early 20th century characterized by short brush strokes of bright colors in juxtaposition to represent the effects of light on objects. Cubism: An artistic movement in the early 20th century characterized by the depiction of natural forms as geometric structures of planes. The Harlem Renaissance: a renewal and flourishing of Black literary and musical culture during the years after World War I in the Harlem section of New York City during the 1920’s and 1930’s. Mickalene Thomas draws on art history and pop culture to create a contemporary vision of female sexuality, beauty, and power. Blurring the distinction between object and subject, concrete and abstract, real and imaginary. She constructs complex portraits, landscapes, and interiors in order to examine how identity, gender, and sense-of-self are informed by the ways women (and “feminine” spaces) are represented in art and popular culture. -
Tucson Museum of Art to Present Powerful African-American Art As Part of 30 Americans Exhibit
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sept. 5, 2018 Contact: Kelly Wiehe Director of Communications & External Affairs (520) 616-2687 [email protected] Tucson Museum of Art to present powerful African-American art as part of 30 Americans exhibit The Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block (TMA) will showcase some of the most significant African American artists of the past 40 years in 30 Americans: The Rubell Family Collection, scheduled for October 6, 2018 – January 13, 2019. The exhibition will open with a free community celebration and preview of the exhibition Friday, October 5, 7:00-9:00 p.m. This ground-breaking exhibition explores race, gender, and historical identity in contemporary context while highlighting diverse media, subject matter, and perspectives. Artists included here represent the core of an expanding number of talented individuals who are contributing their voices to the history of art in this country. Many of the works on view reveal not only the country’s changing view of race and class during the past 200 years, but also address the persistence of racism, violence, and marginalization in America today. The paintings and sculptures are part of the Rubell Family Collection, established in 1964 in New York City by Mera and Don Rubell. It is now one of the world’s largest, privately owned, publicly accessible contemporary art collections. To form their collection, the Rubells visited studios, spoke with artists in depth about their work, and received guidance from gallerists, curators, and the greater art community. “By presenting 30 Americans, the Tucson Museum of Art affirms its mission in connecting art to life,” said TMA’s Chief Curator Dr. -
ICA at VCU Presents Major New Exhibition Exploring Representations of Race in Contemporary Art
ICA at VCU Presents Major New Exhibition Exploring Representations of Race in Contemporary Art Great Force Features Works and Performances by 24 Artists Including New Commissions by Tomashi Jackson, Charlotte Lagarde, and Xaviera Simmons Richmond, VA – October 5, 2019 - The Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) presents Great Force, an exhibition that uses painting, sculpture, photography, video, and performance to explore how art can be used to envision new forms of race and representation freed from the bounds of historic racial constructs. The exhibition features new commissions and recent work by an intergenerational group of 24 established and emerging artists, including Pope.L, Sable Elyse Smith, Xaviera Simmons, Charlotte Lagarde, and Tomashi Jackson. Borrowing its title from a quote by novelist and social critic James Baldwin, “The great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do,” Great Force explores how contemporary artists contend with persistent black-white racial bias and inequality in the U.S. The exhibition is curated by ICA Associate Curator Amber Esseiva, an alumna of VCUarts. Great Force is on view at the ICA at VCU from October 5, 2019, through January 5, 2020. For the duration of Great Force, the ICA will convene community discussions about race, representations of the oppressed and the empowered, and how art can become a tool in pursuit of visibility. The exhibition will extend out of the ICA’s galleries to include films, performances, and public discussions which will all serve as catalysts for discussions about race and culture today. -
Gagosian Gallery
Hyperallergic February 13, 2019 GAGOSIAN Portraits that Feel Like Chance Encounters and Hazy Recollections Nathaniel Quinn’s first museum solo show features work which suggests that reality might best be recognized by its disjunctions rather than by single-point perspective. Debra Brehmer Nathaniel Mary Quinn, “Bring Yo’ Big Teeth Ass Here!” (2017) (all images courtesy the artist and Rhona Hoffman gallery) Nathaniel Mary Quinn is one of the best portrait painters working today and the competition is steep. Think of Amy Sherald, Elizabeth Peyton, Kehinde Wiley, Nicole Eisenman, Allison Schulnik, Mickalene Thomas, Jeff Sonhouse, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Chris Ofili, Njideka Akunyili Crosby and Lynette Yiadom- Boakye to name a few. It could be argued that these artists are not exclusively portrait artists but artists who work with the figure. The line blurs. If identity, memory, and personality enter the pictorial conversation, however, then the work tips toward portraiture — meaning it addresses notions of likeness in relation to a real or metaphorical being. No longer bound by functionality or finesse, contemporary artists are revisiting and revitalizing the portrait as a signifier of presence via a reservoir of constructed, culturally influenced identities. The outsize number of black artists now working in the portrait genre awakens the art world with vital new means of representation. It makes sense that artists who have been kept on the margins of the mainstream art world for centuries might emerge with the idea of visibility front and center. Without a definitive canonical art history of Black self-representation, there are fewer conventions for the work to adhere to. -
30 Americans West Coast Debut at Tacoma Art Museum: Unforgettable
MEDIA RELEASE August 2, 2016 Media Contact: Julianna Verboort, 253-272-4258 x3011 or [email protected] 30 Americans West Coast debut at Tacoma Art Museum: Unforgettable Tacoma, WA - The critically acclaimed, nationally traveling exhibition 30 Americans makes its West Coast debut at Tacoma Art Museum (TAM) this fall. Featuring 45 works drawn from the Rubell Family Collection in Miami – one of the largest private contemporary art collections in the world – 30 Americans will be on view from September 24, 2016 through January 15, 2017. The exhibition showcases paintings, photographs, installations, and sculptures by prominent African American artists who have emerged since the 1970s as trailblazers in the contemporary art scene. The works explore identity and the African American experience in the United States. The exhibition invites viewers to consider multiple perspectives, and to reflect upon the similarities and differences of their own experiences and identities. “The impact of this inspiring exhibition comes from the powerful works of art produced by major artists who have significantly advanced contemporary art practices in our country for three generations," said TAM's Executive Director Stephanie Stebich. "We've been working for four years to bring this exhibition to our community. The stories these works tell are more relevant than ever as we work toward understanding and social change. Art plays a pivotal role in building empathy and resolving conflict." Stebich added, "TAM is a safe space for difficult conversations through art. We plan to hold open forums and discussions during the run of this exhibition offering ample opportunity for community conversations about the role of art, the history of racism, and the traumatic current events.” The museum’s exhibition planning team issued an open call in March to convene a Community Advisory Committee.