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The Arts Intel Report

Mickalene Thomas: Beyond the Pleasure Principle

Sept 30 – Nov 13, 2021
22 Old Bond St, Mayfair, London W1S 4PY, United Kingdom

In the work of American artist Mickalene Thomas, grainy black-and-white cutouts swim amid silkscreen prints, rhinestones, and images in oil paint—a mix inspired by modernist movements and the Harlem Renaissance. These dazzling multimedia collages make the power and beauty of Black women their primary subject. “To see yourself,” Thomas has explained, “and for others to see you, is a form of validation.” The exhibition will show in four chapters in Lévy Gorvy’s four galleries. The openings are staggered, with the second on view in London. Paintings, installations, and video art express Thomas’s vision of positivity and pleasure. —E.C.

Mickalene Thomas, “Jet Blue #25,” 2021 © Mickalene Thomas / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.