{"id":801795,"date":"2026-02-24T17:04:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T16:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/numero.com\/?p=801795"},"modified":"2026-02-24T17:05:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T16:05:16","slug":"interview-mickalene-thomas-exhibition-grand-palais","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/numero.com\/en\/art-design\/numero-art-en\/interview-mickalene-thomas-exhibition-grand-palais\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Mickalene Thomas, the artist who celebrates black bodies at the Grand Palais"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Portrait\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
Mickalene Thomas photographed by Joshua Woods.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mickalene Thomas’s art as a political act<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With All About Love<\/em><\/strong>, her exhibition at the Grand Palais<\/strong> in Paris, African American artist Mickalene Thomas<\/strong><\/a> has put together a show that sets in tension art history, pop culture, and the very conditions in which images are produced. Rather than a retrospective, the exhibition is a journey through visual situations that mix painting<\/strong>, photography<\/strong>, collage<\/strong>, film<\/strong>, and installation<\/strong>. In parallel to his exploration of love, desire, and resistance, she is showing new works at Galerie Nathalie Obadia<\/strong>, prolonging her investigations in a smaller-scale context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas<\/strong>\u2019s oeuvre maintains a constant dialogue with the history of European art, in particular French painting, with multiple references to Courbet<\/strong>, Ingres<\/strong>, Manet<\/strong>, and Monet<\/strong>. Rather than direct quotations, her borrowings take the form of structures she subverts. By breathing new life into the great canonical motifs \u2013 the nude, the depiction of leisure, the domestic interior \u2013 she shifts the gaze so that Black women take centre stage in a narrative from which they were so long excluded. Technique is key to this approach; painting<\/strong>, silkscreen<\/strong>, photography<\/strong>, and collage<\/strong> combine according to very precise processes in which the hand remains determinant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mickalene\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
Mickalene Thomas,
November 1950<\/em> (2021). Rhinestones, acrylic and oil on canvas mounted on wooden panel with oak frame, 218.8 x 132.2 x 7.3 cm. \u00a9 2025 Mickalene Thomas \/ ADAGP, Paris.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

All about love<\/em>, love as an act of resistance<\/h2><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Thomas<\/strong>\u2019s approach also involves the appropriation of images from popular culture, in particular Jet<\/strong><\/em>, a magazine emblematic of the African-American press. By transforming photos of Black women from the magazine\u2019s archives, Thomas questions the regimes of visibility and desire, all the while affirming the visual sovereignty of the bodies she depicts. Her Grand Palais <\/strong>show envisages love as both a formal and political question in which time, doing, and materiality are indissociable from representation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mickalene\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
Mickalene Thomas,
Clarivel Face Forward Gazing<\/em> (2024). Rhinestones, acrylic and oil on canvas mounted on wooden panel, 243.84 x 365.76 cm. \u00a9 Mickalene Thomas \/ ADAGP, Paris.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Interview with artist Mickalene Thomas for Num\u00e9ro art<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Num\u00e9ro<\/em>: Can you say something about the title of your exhibition?<\/strong>

Mickalene Thomas:<\/strong> All About Love<\/em> is borrowed from the title of a book by bell hooks<\/strong> in which she talks about love as an action. Love requires responsibility. It\u2019s work. It\u2019s not just a feeling. For me, this exhibition comes from a personal place. My relationship with my mother. My childhood. My body. Desire. Queerness. Tenderness. Beauty. But also resistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you mean by resistance?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the show, I included pieces from my Resist<\/em> series that contextualize images of violence and activism across history \u2013 from civil rights to Black Lives Matter<\/strong>. It\u2019s not only about Black bodies, but about all bodies that have been dehumanized. For me, making this work was a way to process grief without imploding. Art becomes a language when words aren\u2019t enough. Culture matters because it reminds us, again and again, of our humanity. That\u2019s why the Resist<\/em> series is present. It reminds us that even rest is political. For Black bodies, rest has historically been denied. Leisure becomes a radical gesture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven rest is political.\u201d <\/em>\u2014 Mickalene Thomas<\/h2><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Where did you grow up, and what\u2019s your background?

<\/strong>I\u2019m originally from New Jersey. I was raised by my mother, but also spent time with my grandmother. My family was very matriarchal. Education was important. Music was central \u2013 gospel, church, family gatherings. I was athletic, shy, moved schools a lot. At 16, I came out, moved to Portland, Oregon with my girlfriend, became independent very young. That experience shaped everything. It opened my world. Portland was where art became serious for me. I was surrounded by queer creatives, activists, and musicians. That community is still my family today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mickalene\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
Mickalene Thomas,
D\u00e9jeuner sur l\u2019herbe: Three Black Women <\/em>(2010). C-Print, 121.9 x 152.4 cm. \u00a9 Courtesy of the artist. Mickalene Thomas \/ ADAGP, Paris.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m interested in how certain graphic processes become painterly.\u201d <\/em>\u2014 Mickalene Thomas<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In your work, you\u2019ve developed some very specific techniques.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, technique is very important for me. I\u2019m interested in how certain graphic processes become painterly. When Andy Warhol<\/strong><\/a> was working with silkscreen, he used a very graphic technique but turned it into something expressive. He would do a lot of one-offs, experimenting, playing. With my silkscreen work, everything begins with my hand \u2013 I draw directly onto the acetate. Then we transfer that drawing onto the screen and print it. So it\u2019s a two-part process: my hand is present, then it\u2019s removed. It\u2019s pushed through another system. That tension is important to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mickalene\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
Mickalene Thomas, Guernica Detail (Resist #7) (2021). Rhinestone, acrylic and oil on canvas mounted on wooden panel, 152.4 x 243.84 cm. \u00a9 2025 Mickalene Thomas \/ ADAGP, Paris.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“Though it\u2019s not literal collage, even if it often looks like collage.<\/em>\u201d \u2014 Mickalene Thomas<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Where do your patterns come from?\r\n<\/strong>
The patterns are all mine. We take them and create prints, often using several colours \u2013 four, sometimes more. Some elements are painted directly onto the canvas, sometimes with tape that I later remove. Everything else is screen-printed. Because of the way I integrate techniques, you get a trompe-l\u2019oeil<\/strong> effect. It can look like something is collaged or applied, even though it isn\u2019t. The edges, the layering, the way things meet \u2013 all of that creates an illusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Might one therefore say your favourite technique is collage?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, though it\u2019s not literal collage, even if it often looks like collage. The language of materials is important, but it\u2019s never one-to- one. The source material might be paper or magazine images, but once it enters the painting, it becomes something else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mickalene\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
Mickalene Thomas,
Afro Goddess Looking Forward <\/em>(2015). Rhinestones, acrylic and oil on wooden panel, 152.4 x 243.8 x 5.1 cm. \u00a9 Mickalene Thomas \/ ADAGP, Paris.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChance plays a role, but not in a loose way.\u201d <\/em>\u2014 Mickalene Thomas<\/h2><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I always make a physical model<\/strong> first \u2013 not a digital one. I only use digital tools when I need to scale something up. I scan the original layers and then adjust them digitally if the work is going to become a mural or be adapted to a specific architectural space. But the image itself is always handmade. There\u2019s no digital manipulation in terms of composition \u2013 just scale and placement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you control absolutely everything in the process?<\/strong>

Chance plays a role, but not in a loose way. I make decisions, but allow myself to change my mind. Not everything planned in the collage ends up in the painting. When I paint, new gestures appear, new marks. The relationship to material shifts. You have to let the materials do something else. You can\u2019t stay married to the original source. Sometimes I step back and realize something feels too flat, or the depth isn\u2019t moving. Then I intervene. That\u2019s where painting takes over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a sense of play in this body of work. It\u2019s very organic, very intuitive. Almost childlike.\u201d<\/em> \u2014 Mickalene Thomas<\/h2><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You often refer to Picasso\u2019s T\u00eates de femme<\/em> series. What i<\/strong>nterests you in it?<\/strong>

Initially, I was interested in Picasso<\/strong>\u2019s films, but it really emerged from a conversation with my makeup artist during a photoshoot. I wanted to collaborate with the people I work with behind the scenes \u2013 my makeup artist, my hair stylist, the people who help construct the image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Painting\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
Mickalene Thomas,
Sleep: Deux femmes noires<\/em> (2012). Rhinestones, Rhinestones, acrylic and oil on canvas mounted on wooden panel with oak frame, 609.6 x 274.32 cm. \u00a9 Mickalene Thomas \/ ADAGP, Paris.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How do you translate it on canvas?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We began by looking at faces, but abstracting them. I would cut a shape, place it, then my makeup artist would make a mark. Then I\u2019d respond with another shape. These works are composites of multiple portraits \u2013 sometimes my sisters, sometimes other muses. There\u2019s a sense of play in this body of work. It\u2019s very organic, very intuitive. Almost childlike. Many of the pieces are made from scraps \u2013 negative shapes left over from other works. I don\u2019t throw anything away. Everything is recycled, reactivated, transformed into something else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t throw anything away. Everything is recycled, reactivated, transformed into something else<\/em>.\u201d <\/em>\u2014 Mickalene Thomas<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Do you only work in series?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes. Series allow me to communicate more clearly with the viewer. A single work can say something, but a series builds a language. Some series are numbered, others use dates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mickalene\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
Mickalene Thomas,
Clarivel Centered<\/em> (2013). Photograph in colours and paper collage on archival cardboard, 40.64 x 27.94 cm. \u00a9 Courtesy of the artist. Mickalene Thomas \/ ADAGP, Paris.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You also produce shaped canvases. Why?<\/strong>

Shaped panels are something I\u2019ve worked with for a long time. I wanted to move beyond the traditional frame. Early on, I was looking at artists like Elizabeth Murray<\/strong> and Frank Stella<\/strong>, thinking about how the frame itself is part of the work. If someone else frames the image, they control how it\u2019s seen. I don\u2019t want that. I design the frame as part of the work. Collectors can\u2019t reframe it. The edge is conceptually integral. Originally, many of the shapes I used referenced Victorian mirrors \u2013 ovals, ornamental forms. The idea was to push beyond containment, to question how images are held and presented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think about how the body moves through space, how the experience begins before you even enter the exhibition.<\/em>\u201d \u2014 Mickalene Thomas<\/h2><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

How important are the setting and the exhibition design to you?<\/strong>

Display is extremely important to me. I\u2019m not interested in work simply hanging on walls. I think about how the body moves through space, how the experience begins before you even enter the exhibition. If I have the opportunity and the budget, I want to be involved from the very beginning, even on the outside of the museum \u2013 the fa\u00e7ade, the entrance, the transition. Once the doors open, everything matters: sound, light, props, colour. I want people to feel like they\u2019re entering a home. Low light. Brown walls. Screens. Sound. I want to set a tone of intimacy. I want visitors to forget where they came from and enter a space of imagination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not enough to show an artist \u2013 you have to support the communities connected to that work. Programming, education, access. Otherwise, it\u2019s just symbolic\u201d <\/em>\u2014 Mickalene Thomas<\/h2><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In your Grand Palais show, you\u2019ve even reproduced rooms from your mom and grandma\u2019s apartments.<\/strong>

Yes, I want people to feel that sense of lived memory. Art comes from places you don\u2019t always consciously understand. You just know you have to make it. My grandmother\u2019s chair is a recurring image for me. She used to patch furniture with scraps of fabric. When I started making chairs in my installations, I didn\u2019t immediately realize why. Then it clicked \u2013 that memory was stored in my body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you want people to take away from this exhibition?<\/strong>

I want people to feel something deeply. Beauty. Politics. Life. A moment of transformation. I want the experience to hit the gut. Paris<\/strong> is different from New York<\/strong>. The language, the structures, the pace of change. But the support from Black communities here has been very meaningful. Institutions have responsibilities. It\u2019s not enough to show an artist \u2013 you have to support the communities connected to that work. Programming, education, access. Otherwise, it\u2019s just symbolic. I don\u2019t want to be the first Black female artist if there\u2019s no second or third. That\u2019s meaningless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMickalene Thomas. All About Love\u201d, exhibition until April 5th, 2026, at the\u00a0Grand Palais<\/a>, Paris 8th. Mickalene Thomas is represented by Galerie Nathalie Obadia<\/a><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mickalene Thomas’s art as a political act With All About Love, her exhibition at the […]<\/p>\n

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