Muse: Mickalene Thomas Photographs and tête-à-tête

Mickalene Thomas, leçon d’amour, 2008, c-print. © Mickalene Thomas; courtesy of the artist, Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong; and Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

MUSE: MICKALENE THOMAS PHOTOGRAPHS and tête-à-tête

October 20, 2018–January 13, 2019

Mickalene Thomas (U.S., born 1971) challenges current standards and asserts new definitions of beauty and inspiration through her groundbreaking photographs in Muse: Mickalene Thomas Photographs and the companion exhibition, têteà-tête. Identifying photography as a touchstone for her practice, much of her work functions as an act of deconstruction and appropriation—she draws inspiration widely, borrowing various visual motifs, including 1970s black-is-beautiful imagery, 19th-century French painting, and 20th-century studio portraiture.

Equally important, the artworks presented reflect a personal community of inspiration—a collection of muses that includes

Mickalene Thomas, Negress with Green Nails, 2005, c-print. © Mickalene Thomas; courtesy of the artist, Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong; and Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Thomas herself, her mother, friends, and lovers. These muses emphasize the communal and social aspects of art-making and creativity that pervade her work. Nearly 50 artworks are highlighted in Muse, including a three-dimensional tableau reminiscent of a seventiesera domestic space, replicating the studio installation where Thomas and her models collaborate.

Communities of inspiration are further highlighted in tête-à-tête, a companion presentation curated by Thomas. This mini-exhibition within the larger Muse show includes works by ten artists that have inspired Thomas. Placed consciously in dialogue with her own practice, these works contain many of the same themes central to Thomas’ practice. Artists include Renée Cox, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Zanele Muholi, and Carrie May Weems, among others.

Lyle Ashton Harris, Gail and Peggy, Ft. Greene, Brooklyn, New York, Circa Late 1980’s, 2015, c-print. courtesy the artist and Albert Merola Gallery, Provincetown, Massachusetts.

Together, Muse and tête-à-tête create a robust visual conversation about the representation of the black body in today’s society, and provide opportunities for guests to reflect on how various forms of visual culture help shape their own identities and how they, too, collect and process information.

For more about the exhibition, go to daytonartinstitute.org/muse and join the conversation on social media with the hashtag #MuseDAI.

The exhibition is organized by Aperture Foundation, New York.