In the corner of Mi

In the corner of #MickaleneThomas’ Brooklyn studio is a faux living room with wood-paneled walls and a couch covered in colorful retro textiles inspired by her 1970s childhood. This is where Thomas begins her process – photographing African American women inspired in equal parts by the aesthetics of blaxploitation and classical Western artworks – which she reproduces at a large scale in rhinestones, collage, acrylic paint, and enamel. In her texturally rich paintings, Thomas explores a spectrum of black female beauty and sexual identity while constructing images of femininity and power. ‘Sleep: Deux Femmes Noires’ (2013) – published by @DurhamPress – is based on a small collage that @MickaleneThomas used to conceive both the print, and a large painting (of same title), featured prominently in her first solo museum exhibition, ‘Origin of the Universe’ (2012–2013). Sleep, both in title and subject, directly references Gustave Courbet’s erotic painting ‘Le Sommeil’ from 1866, but transports the interior scene of reclining nudes to a disparate collaged landscape of bright color and pattern. The work hints at influences from the Hudson River Painters, Romare Bearden, David Hockney, and Seydou Keita. #ArtBasel2019. #artbasel