Mickalene Thomas (American, b. 1971). Din, une très belle négresse #2, 2012. Rhinestones, acrylic paint, and oil enamel on wood panel, 102 x 84 x 2 in. (259.1 x 213.4 x 5.1 cm). Private Collection, Boston. Courtesy of the artist, Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York, and Suzanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects. © Mickalene Thomas, Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York, and Suzanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects. Photo by Christopher Burke Studio
September 28, 2012–January 20, 2013
Brooklyn artist Mickalene Thomas is best known for her elaborate, collage-inspired paintings, embellished with rhinestones, enamel, and colorful acrylics. Her depictions of African American women explore a spectrum of black female beauty and sexual identity while constructing images of femininity and power. Origin of the Universe, Thomas’s first solo museum exhibition, highlights recent bodies of work that examine interior and exterior environments in relation to the female figure. Their settings are often inspired by her 1970s childhood.
Thomas’s production is informed by the classical genres of portraiture, landscape, still life, and the female nude. She combines careful borrowings from historical painting with contemporary popular culture, taking cues from such artists as Romare Bearden, Gustave Courbet, David Hockney, Édouard Manet, and Henri Matisse. In combining traditional genres with African American female subjects, Thomas makes a case for opening up the conventional parameters of art history and culture. Among the pieces on view are contemporary riffs on Courbet’s Origin of the World and Manet’s Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe. Seventy-five of the ninety featured works were added for the Brooklyn presentation. An entrance-gallery mural, a film about Thomas's mother, and installations of furnished domestic interiors were created specifically for this show.
Mickalene Thomas: Origin of the Universe was organized by the Santa Monica Museum of Art and Lisa Melandri, former Deputy Director for Exhibitions and Programs. The Brooklyn presentation is organized by Eugenie Tsai, John and Barbara Vogelstein Curator of Contemporary Art, Brooklyn Museum.
Generous support for this exhibition was provided by Forest City Ratner Companies, Giulia Borghese, and the Stephanie and Tim Ingrassia Contemporary Art Exhibition Fund.
Media
Video
In Conversation: Mickalene Thomas and Carrie Mae Weems
Audio
Learn more about the exhibition using an iPod or cell phone. Hear Mickalene Thomas describe her artistic process.
Two ways to listen:
Look for artworks with labels like this: 
.
Rent an iPod for the day at the Visitor Center in the lobby.
Call in using your cell phone.
Playlist
Compilation by Thomas, created to accompany the exhibition.
Slideshow
Thomas and her assistants install the exhibition.
Talk
Visitor comments
I loved this exhibit.
Totally inspiring. Especially the movie about the artist's mother. I feel as though I now have permission to pull and blend and place things from everywhere...on canvas or in my life. Beautiful. Thank you.
Thank you Mickalene - and all involved in this exhibit, from LA to Brooklyn. I have been following you since the Matrix show at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford. Your art has grown so beautifully. I was so moved by your interiors (new to me) and of course the installations and the film. Again and again thank you.
Interesting sense of design and material, but not very interesting as a painter. My favorite work is the photograph of Qusuqzah, which truly engages.
This is amazing! The pieces are gorgeous and evocative and smart. I want to see more of her work! Thomas makes me care about art history from the contemporary.
Really powerful, compelling, beautiful, inspiring work! This is my 2nd time viewing this exhibit, and I don't do that very often. Congratulations Mickalene!
Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum
