On-site 3: Mickalene Thomas
February 26—May 10, 2010
P.S.1 presents the third installment of the site-specific series On-Site, a new large-scale wall piece by
Mickalene Thomas titled Le Déjeuner Sur L'herbe: Les
Trois Femmes Noires (2010). This installation will be on view in the First Floor
Lobby beginning February 27, 2010.
Mickalene Thomas explores
notions of beauty particularly in relation to
African American women with her photographs,
collages, and paintings. Her portraits are informed by the long tradition of
portraiture in western art history,
the more recent pin-up images of the
1960's and 70's, and by her own mother, a former model, who often models for
Thomas. They address questions of artifice, femininity, strength, and glamour. In
this work for P.S.1's lobby, Thomas presents three women in an ornate setting,
composed in a direct homage to
Manet's Le Déjeuner Sur L'herbe,
1863. The sitters exude intense confidence and sensuality amplified by Thomas'
patterned and collaged treatment. The work originated as a photograph that Thomas staged in the MoMA Abby Aldrich Rockefeller
Sculpture Garden
late one summer evening. She then collaged the photograph
with other elements, then scanned and further altered it in Photoshop, creating a puzzle-piece effect that alludes to the process of its making.
Thomas' meticulous attention
to detail in the creation of her work is paramount to the success of her
striking images. Vibrant colors and generous use of props and jewelry create a
captivating scene that play on idealizations of beauty. By presenting bold and
striking African American women in historical compositions, Thomas offers an
alternative to mass media imagery and simultaneously makes thoughtful allusion
to pop cultural references like Blaxploitation and suburban kitsch.
In summer 2009, Mickalene
Thomas conducted a casting for this new work and staged a series of photographs in The Museum of Modern Art's Sculpture Garden. A painting made from one of the
resulting photographs from the shoot
is currently on view in the window of The Modern Restaurant, adjacent to MoMA, at 9 West 53rd St.
Mickalene Thomas (b.1971, Camden,
New Jersey)
earned her MFA from Yale University in 2002 and currently lives and works in New York. Shewas
featured in Greater New York (2005)
at P.S.1 and recently was included in Dress
Codes: The Third ICP Triennial of Photography
and Video. She is represented by
Lehmann Maupin Gallery in New York,
Rhona Hoffman Gallery in Chicago, and Susanne Vielmetter Projects Los Angeles.
Organized by P.S.1 Director and MoMA Chief Curator at Large Klaus Biesenbach.