Mickelene Thomas

Saturday evening I had the pleasure of visiting the gallery of SUSANNE VIELMETTER LOS ANGELES PROJECTS in Culver City. The gallery is currently exhibiting the work of African American artist Mickelene Thomas called "Put A Little Sugar In My Bowl", May 8 - June 12, 2010. Ms Thomas is an extraordinary artist. She culls her topics from historical images and makes them into her own. She is a master at collage using paint, baubles, beads, sequins, texture and prints to enhance the images. The women in the paintings are strong, beautiful and sexy, engaging you from the canvas. Her collage efforts are very reminiscent of Romere Bearden and her mixture of patterns and textures Mattiselike.

Mickalene Thomas received her MFA from Yale University in 2002. Her work is currently featured in the window at the Modern at MoMA, New York and is the third “On-Site” installation at PS1, Long Island City, New York. She is preparing a solo exhibition at the Santa Monica Museum of Art for 2012.