About the Work
The bright bold patterns in Can’t We just Sit Down and Talk It Over by Mickalene Thomas create the feel of a 1970s lounge. A woman sits in the center of the composition, her pastel shirt falling to one side, her nude legs implying that the shirt is the only thing she’s wearing. Sexy and suggestive, Thomas creates a screenprint with a fresh, cool feeling.
About the Artist
While “bling” is typically worn around the neck of musical icons such as Beyonce and Jay Z, the rhinestones and glitter of Mickalene Thomas's paintings are important to her complex exploration of womanhood and our definitions of beauty. Combining modern materials such as acrylic and enamel with art historical motifs and allusions to predecessors like Manet and Matisse, Thomas creates magnetic portraits of strong, powerful women that challenge traditional notions of beauty, gender, and race.
The success of Thomas’ balance of the iconic and contemporary is evident to anyone strolling by New York’s Museum of Modern Art, where a large painting by Thomas titled Le Déjeuner Sur L'herbe: Les Trois Femmes Noires, referencing Manet's famous work, bedecks the façade next to the museum’s acclaimed restaurant, The Modern.
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