A major survey chronicling Thomas’s vibrant, rhinestone-adorned paintings

New York–based artist Mickalene Thomas’s critically acclaimed and extensive body of work spans painting, collage, print, photography, video and immersive installations. With influences ranging from 19th-century painting to popular culture, Thomas’s art is characterized by spectacularly staged, rhinestoned, large-scale painted tableaux and bold, intimate compositions, decisively foregrounding Black femininity in abundant realms of visual pleasure, agency, and kinship. This major survey publication further affirms Thomas’s status as a key figure of contemporary art. It features notable works that are arranged in thematic chapters throughout the book.

The book also features Mickalene Thomas in conversation with Hayward Gallery chief curator Rachel Thomas and essays by Claudia Rankine, Darnell L. Moore, Ed Schad, Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Renée Mussai, and Christine Kim that cover Thomas’s distinct visual vocabulary, drawing on themes of love and intergenerational female empowerment as well as tenets of Black feminist theory.

Mickalene Thomas (born 1971) is an international, award-winning, multidisciplinary artist whose work has yielded instantly recognizable and widely celebrated aesthetic languages within contemporary visual culture. She is known for her elaborate portraits of Black women composed of rhinestones, acrylic and enamel.

Mickalene Thomas: All About Love will be on view at the Barnes Foundation from October 20, 2024 to January 12, 2025. Learn more about the special exhibition here.