Analysis Of Mickalene Thomas 'Sleep'

Drawing from many areas of inspiration, Mickalene Thomas is a contemporary artist that explores different depictions of african-american women. Many of her works focus on the african-american women that have a solid standing in todays pop culture. Her works soften the usual view of the african american woman, a gaze that is most often than not harsh and unrelenting, and romanticize their femininity. Mickalenes attempts to blur the lines between the foreground and background in her work, thus leaving everything in her piece in the same spatial realm. The focus and importance then being not the “subject” or “object” but the whole piece in its entirety. Her piece entitled, “Sleep’ shows a multifaceted vision of the african american woman across media and in reality/offscreen. Also a perfect piece to show how
She changed her study of focus after viewing works created by artist Carrie Mae Weems, stating it was transformative for her and “[…] Overwhelmed with familiarity of myself”. It was after making repeat trips to view Weems photo works, that Mickalene attended Pratt Institute in New york with a different focus in art. The works she had created up until now portray African-American woman, including celebrates, portraiture in collage-inspired paintings. These paintings are created with an array of materials, which are but not limited to: acrylics, rhinestones, patterned paper, and enamel. With the influence of Carrie Mae Weems behind her still, Mickalene explores a spectrum of of the beauty of the Black woman as well as sexuality and power. She creates works of portraiture, landscapes, still life and female nudes. Her style of paintings are inspired by movements like the Impressionist era and artists such as Henri Matisse, and Édouard Manet; she blends this style with visions of Black women and Black women that often appear in pop