Foreword by Sherri Geldin. Text by Nicole R. Fleetwood, Michael Goodson, Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Antwaun Sargent.
Deconstructing the charged connections between sitter, artist and viewer
Presenting paintings of some of the artist's key models and muses, I Can't See You Without Me illuminates the work of Brooklyn painter Mickalene Thomas (born 1971). Culling from art history and popular culture, Thomas creates scintillating portraits that deconstruct the highly charged connections between sitter, artist and viewer. Whether depicted as classically composed 19th-century odalisques, Afro-adorned vixens of blaxploitation films or as a powerful maternal figure yearning for social mobility, the recurring models in Thomas' compositions (almost exclusively women of color) convey a spirit of strength and self-confidence. Across this archetypal array, it is both their contradictions and kinships that make the black female body such fertile terrain for the artist's ongoing investigations. By casting herself, her late mother and other formidable women in her life as models, muses and collaborators, Thomas particularizes her distinctive oeuvre of portraiture. Focused yet expansive, the catalog both reasserts and further contextualizes issues of identity, sexuality and agency in Thomas' work that have only become more nuanced and palpable over time.
"Tell Her It's Over" (2006) is reproduced from 'Mickalene Thomas: I Can’t See You Without Me.'
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Harper's Bazaar Arabia
Iman Vakil
I Can’t See You Without Me is a touching monograph of Mickalene Thomas’ portraits and her deconstruction between sitter, artist and viewer. Outlining how her subjects would often take on the form of 19th century odalisques, Afro-adorned vixens of blaxploitation films or a powerful maternal figure yearning for social mobility, the impressive essayists detail how these contradictions and kinships make the Black female body such fertile terrain for the artist’s ongoing investigations.
STATUS: Out of stock
Temporarily out of stock pending additional inventory.
"By portraying real women with their own unique history, beauty and background, I'm working to diversify the representations of black women in art," Mickalene Thomas is quoted in I Can’t See You Without Me, her best-selling collection of muse paintings from the Wexner Center. "We are not validated until we see ourselves: Not only are we present, we demand that we be seen, be heard, and be acknowledged." Featured image, a self-portrait, is "It Hurts So Good! (Brawlin' Spitfire Two)" (2007). continue to blog
"Racquel Reclining Wearing Purple Jumpsuit" (2015) is reproduced from Mickalene Thomas: I Can’t See You Without Me, published by the Wexner Center. Essayst Nicole R. Fleetwood writes, "Thomas's reclining nudes and their interior staging are acts of world making—the origins of a universe—through the oeuvre of a black female artist and centered on black women's erotic exchanges, fantasies and performative identification… As Thomas's art so adroitly reminds us, every rehearsal and reimagining of black female erotic identification is a practice of purposeful becoming." continue to blog
FORMAT: Pbk, 8.5 x 11 in. / 128 pgs / 40 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $39.95 LIST PRICE: CANADA $53.95 GBP £35.00 ISBN: 9781881390572 PUBLISHER: Wexner Center for the Arts AVAILABLE: 11/20/2018 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: Out of stock TERRITORY: WORLD
Published by Wexner Center for the Arts. Foreword by Sherri Geldin. Text by Nicole R. Fleetwood, Michael Goodson, Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Antwaun Sargent.
Deconstructing the charged connections between sitter, artist and viewer
Presenting paintings of some of the artist's key models and muses, I Can't See You Without Me illuminates the work of Brooklyn painter Mickalene Thomas (born 1971). Culling from art history and popular culture, Thomas creates scintillating portraits that deconstruct the highly charged connections between sitter, artist and viewer. Whether depicted as classically composed 19th-century odalisques, Afro-adorned vixens of blaxploitation films or as a powerful maternal figure yearning for social mobility, the recurring models in Thomas' compositions (almost exclusively women of color) convey a spirit of strength and self-confidence. Across this archetypal array, it is both their contradictions and kinships that make the black female body such fertile terrain for the artist's ongoing investigations. By casting herself, her late mother and other formidable women in her life as models, muses and collaborators, Thomas particularizes her distinctive oeuvre of portraiture. Focused yet expansive, the catalog both reasserts and further contextualizes issues of identity, sexuality and agency in Thomas' work that have only become more nuanced and palpable over time.
