“My work conveys that Black women’s existence in this world is revolutionary, radical, innovative, and unapologetic, and her gaze is powerful.” -Mickalene Thomas
The artist Mickalene Thomas rejects barriers to imagination. In a 2022 podcast interview with Debbie Millman on Design Matters, Thomas talked about the diverse enriching life experiences that led her to become an artist. From her youth in Camden, New Jersey to her early 20s in Portland, Oregon, art always found a way to make itself present in her life.
Today, the work of Mickalene Thomas is the subject of a major international art tour, Mickalene Thomas: All About Love. Debuting in Los Angeles in May 2024 and currently in Philadelphia at the Barnes Foundation, the exhibition will move to London in February 2025, followed by Paris in June.
There are no limits on Thomas’ vision for her work. As she told Millman, “I don’t need permission to make what I want to make. It’s ok that I like those artists- Manet, Monet, Corbet. If I want to do a landscape, I make a gd landscape. If I want to paint flowers, I paint flowers. In the same space I’m going to paint about Black women. In the same space I’m going to paint about resistance. Or the same place if I want to do portraits, I’ll do portraits. I can paint whatever the fuck I want to paint.”
May Mickalene Thomas realize her dream of continuing to make art late in life like the legendary Betye Saar, Pat Steir, Lorraine O’Grady and the late Louise Bourgeois and Faith Ringgold.
Voracious DPC 