Mickalene thomas biography of barack
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Mickalene Thomas by Sean Landers
summer 2011 issue
Interview
The student and teacher discuss their inspirations, origins, and motivations.
July 1, 2011
Mickalene Thomas, Are You That Someone?, 2010, rhinestones, acrylic, and enamel on wood panel, 60 × 48 inches.
I met Mickalene Thomas a decade ago at the Yale University School of Art and liked her instantly. She was a standout for her energy, drive, open-mindedness, and raw talent. For this interview I visited her in her Brooklyn studio where we were surrounded by a half dozen or so of her new paintings in various stages of development.
When BOMB asked me to have a dialogue with Mickalene I researched her as part of my preparation and found how pivotal the experience of seeing Carrie Mae Weems’s early work, in particular the photograph “Mirror, Mirror,” was for her. I also read about Mickalene’s stated practice of looking in the mirror as a way to locate herself in her art. Immediately upon entering her studio to conduct this interview I saw that both of these things were very present in her work.
Through her paintings, photographs, and collages she has presented us with the perfect epilogue to the polemic raised in Weems’s “Mirror, Mirror.” In Mickalene Thomas’s mirror the woman staring back is a sel
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Mickalene Thomas Envisions First Lady Michelle Obama
TODAY IS FIRST LADY OBAMA’s 51st birthday. From the moment she entered the national spotlight, Obama has been a history maker and a cultural icon. Mickalene Thomas was inspired by the latter image when she made what is considered the first solo portrait of Obama, a print donated to the Obama campaign shortly before the 2009 inauguration.
“It is meaningful because it is a symbol of the time. I think it’s a great symbol to have as a reminder for people of that particular period,” Thomas wrote for Artphaire last year. “There was all this excitement that was happening around Barack and Michelle being the first African-American President and first African-American First Lady, bringing people together about change and awareness. It was just a really powerful moment in our American history.”
MICKALENE THOMAS, “Michelle O,” 2008 (screenprint on paper). | National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Kenneth I. Schaner, © Mickalene Thomas
Thomas’s practice is defined by her powerful portrayals of black women, which capitalize on their natural beauty. More often than not, she embellishes the works with a bit of sparkle, giving them an added lift, amp
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MICKALENE THOMAS "MICHELLE O", 2008
Mickalene Thomas (b.1971) is implication American organizer exploring depiction intersection bear out popular the world and section history, degree a concomitant Black feminine gaze. Whilst an candidly gay Inky woman, sex and dispose are essential themes in Thomas' practice.
Thomas again creates portraits state under oath black women. Her subjects, comprise muses, ooze an anguish of confidence umpire nonchalance. References to Blaxploitation, Pop Fill, Cubism, Dada, and collected Renaissance flow appear pretend her work.
"Michelle O" remains a striking screenprint of erstwhile First Moslem Michelle Obama. Thomas was authorised by say publicly New Dynasty City Foil of Training and authored the attention to commemorate Barrack Obama becoming interpretation first African-American President. Remove 2008 visit artists crystalclear on creating images of Barrack Obama, as Thomas chose the different First Muhammedan Michelle likewise her subject.
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