Mickalene Thomas: I Can’t See You Without Me

The work of celebrated, multidisciplinary artist Mickalene Thomas (b. 1971) fills the galleries in this exhibition that explores her vibrant and resonant dialogue with authorship, identity, desire, and the historically charged relationship between artist and muse. You’ll encounter more than 50 of Thomas’s works, including her signature rhinestone-encrusted paintings as well as collages, sculptures, immersive installations, and the premiere of a multichannel video set to music by Grammy Award–winning drummer, composer, and producer Terri Lyne Carrington. This new work, Je t’aime trois, has been made possible by a Wexner Center Artist Residency Award. 

In pursuing fine art degrees at Pratt Institute and Yale University, Thomas didn’t see in art history the strong black women who raised her—women she admired and who looked like her. She turned to examining and expanding on the representation of women of color in art, addressing their absence and celebrating their beauty. With a special focus on the artist’s opulent, grandly scaled paintings, I Can’t See You Without Me looks at four of the most significant muses in Thomas’s work spanning 2001–2018: her late mother, Sandra; her former girlfriend Maya; her current partner, Racquel; and the artist herself. 

Taking inspiration from iconic portraits (by artists such as Ingres, Manet, and Warhol, to name a few) and 1970s popular culture, among other sources, Thomas masterfully paints these women, asserting their strength, personality, and confidence.

Please note: this exhibition contains mature content and may not be suitable for all ages.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.      

Mickalene Thomas, Afro Goddess Looking Forward, 2015. Rhinestones, acrylic, and oil on wood panel. 60 x 96 in. Courtesy of the artist © Mickalene Thomas / Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York  

Whether or not you go, Mickalene Thomas: I Can’t See You Without Me presents paintings of some of the artist's key models and muses. 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.

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