Mickalene Thomas: Better Days

Mickalene Thomas: Better Days
Art Bar Installation during Art Basel, Switzerland
13-16 June 2013
Volkshaus No.5, The Gallery

As part of Absolut Art Bureau’s ongoing arts initiative, Thomas was
given carte blanche to create a site-specific art bar at Volkshaus No.
5, The Gallery, for the duration of Art Basel, Switzerland. Inspired
in part by house parties hosted by her mother in the late 70s,
Thomas’s Better Days will be a unique and immersive environment, where
visitors can enjoy a curated program of live performances and guests
DJs. The installation will also feature two rugs custom designed by
Thomas and produced by Henzel Rugs specifically for Better Days.

 Mickalene Thomas at Lehmann Maupin, Booth J09
Art Basel, Switzerland
13-16 June 2013
Lehmann Maupin has dedicated a portion of its booth to new paintings
and mixed-media works by Mickalene Thomas, presented in a setting that
evokes her 1970s tableaux installations. Among the works on view will
be a painting of supermodel Naomi Campbell and a salon-style hanging
of collaged black and white photographs that Thomas uses as source
material for her paintings. The fair is open to the public from
Thursday, 13 June through Sunday, 16 June, 11 AM to 7 PM each day.

 Happy Birthday to a Beautiful Woman
Screenings in 2013-2014
Lehmann Maupin is thrilled to announce that Mickalene Thomas's
documentary, Happy Birthday to a Beautiful Woman, will be presented in
the following venues in the coming year: The Poetics of Unforgetting
at the Hackney Picturehouse, London, on 6 June 2013; 2nd Annual Black
Star Film Festival in Philadelphia from 1- 4 August 2013; and on HBO,
airing in 2014.
Thomas's thirty-minute documentary takes as its theme the artist's
mother and muse, Sandra Bush. The film is an emotionally raw and
loving portrait of Bush as she reflects on her life experiences,
including her personal struggles and battle with chronic illness.
Happy Birthday to a Beautiful Woman debuted at the Brooklyn Museum of
Art on 28 September 2012, as part of Thomas's first solo museum
exhibition in New York.

 ART CAPSUL for Net-A-Porter
Mickalene Thomas has been commissioned to conceive of a garment
inspired by haute couture for ART CAPSUL, curated by Stacy Engman.
Part art project, part capsule collection, ART CAPSUL by Stacy Engman
showcases elements found in the works of some of today's most
celebrated contemporary artists. "ART CAPSUL celebrates originality,
vision, and uniqueness inherent in the forms and traditions of haute
couture and art. Artists give life to their artwork through their own
distinct vision, and this special series celebrates this as an
extension of their existing vision and practice, " Engman has said.
ART CAPSUL will be unveiled on Net-A-Porter in July 2013.

 Curatorial Project: Tete-a-Tete at QF Gallery
24 August - 15 September 2013
98 Newtown Lane, East Hampton, NY 11937
Mickalene Thomas will present the second iteration of "Tete-a-Tete,"
on view from 24 August to 15 September at QF Gallery in East Hampton,
New York. First presented last summer at Yancey Richardson, New York,
Thomas conceived of the idea for this group exhibition after
participating in MoMA's "Conversations: Among Friends." Through this
exhibition, Thomas aims to facilitate a visual conversation among
artists.