Mickalene Thomas: All About Love

A major monograph chronicling Thomas’ vibrant, rhinestone-adorned painting

New York-based artist Mickalene Thomas’ 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’ art articulates a complex and empowering vision of womanhood while expanding on and upending common definitions of beauty, sexuality, celebrity, and politics. This major publication further affirms Thomas’ 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 an interview with the artist Rachel Thomas and is followed by essays from Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Darnell L. Moore, Claudia Rankine, Ed Schad, Renée Mussai, and Christine Y. Kim, which cover her distinct visual vocabulary, drawing on themes of intergenerational female empowerment, autobiography, memory and tenets of Black feminist theory. In particular, they explore how Thomas subverts art history to reclaim the notions of repose, rest, and leisure in works that celebrate self-expression and joy. For the artist, repose is a radical act, pointing to "what is able to happen once you have the agency."

By Mickalene Thomas
224 pages
Published by D.A.P., 2024
Hardcover
9.25 x 1.25 x 11.5 inches