Media Stop (Photo: Mickalene Thomas / Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York Courtesy The Artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong)

Published on January 3rd, 2018 | by Dr. Jerry Doby

0

SMITHSONIAN: Mickalene Thomas’ Glittering Images of Black Women Upend Tradition

Putting new spins on historical images or changing the perspective of history based on artists’ views is nothing new…’his’story has been represented with different images all based on the same perception. Renowned creative, Mickalene Thomas has flipped the script so to speak delivering a triumphant collection that celebrates Black Women in scenes which most often do not include them…That’s the basic story recap but to get the full impact of what Thomas’ new collection brings to the table for contemporary art check the full article on SMITHSONIAN.com

(Photo: Mickalene Thomas / Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York Courtesy The Artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong)

(Photo: Mickalene Thomas / Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York Courtesy The Artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong)

Here’s the official line

How Mickalene Thomas Is Ushering in a New Wave of Contemporary Art The celebrated portraitist’s glittering images of black women upend tradition (Smithsonian.com)

Smithsonian‘s January/February 2018 double issue, explores how a celebrated portraitist’s glittering images of black women upend tradition.

Mickalene Thomas, a luminary of the contemporary art world, is redefining modern art by “reclaiming canonized images of beauty and reinterpreting them.” Thomas, an African- American Yale-trained artist, creates dazzling collage portraits, in various formats, of black women, a gesture which “challenges conventional notions of femininity, sexuality and blackness in art history, especially given the complicated role of black bodies in 19th-century-paintings.”

Thomas, a “Renaissance rock star” created a commissioned portrait for R&B artist Solange Knowles, and directed an introspective HBO documentary, Happy Birthday to a Beautiful Woman. Her artwork, which critics have called “post-black and post-feminist because of its nuanced rebelliousness” is helping generate the next wave of more culturally diverse American art.

Read more:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/mickalene-thomas-ushering-new-wave-contemporary-art-180967496/#O0CbYTc41hfegg01.99

Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! http://bit.ly/1cGUiGv
Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter


Tags: , , , , , ,


About the Author

Editor-in-Chief of The Hype Magazine, Media and SEO Consultant, Journalist, Ph.D. and retired combat vet. 2023 recipient of The President's Lifetime Achievement Award. Partner at THM Media Group. Member of the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture, the United States Press Agency and ForbesBLK.


Comments are closed.

Back to Top ↑