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"SINGULAR VIEWS: 25 ARTISTS"
Mickalene Thomas Room highlights amazing group show at the Rubell Museum DC
Edited by Janel St. John. July 2024. Singular Views: 25 Artists is the second installation at the Rubell Museum DC, which opened last fall in Southwest DC. Featuring the work of 25 contemporary U.S and worldwide artists, Singular Views encompasses over 120 artworks across media. The exhibition is drawn entirely from the Rubells’ unparalleled collection of contemporary art of nearly 8,000 works. The work of each artist is presented like a capsule collection. “We now make the choice to display each artist’s work as a focused solo exhibition to highlight their individual perspectives and allow audiences to understand the full extent of the artist’s practice,” said Mera Rubell.
This means...there is an entire room of Mickalene Thomas artwork! Known for her large-scale acrylic paintings of Black women in states of leisure and repose, she layers diverse materials - rhinestones, acrylic paint, and photographic fragments to create mesmerizing tapestries. The subjects of her works are often seen in Black American domestic interiors, claiming the agency of womanhood while deconstructing the art historical canon. In her signature collage-like compositions, image and texture converge in electrifying harmony. And the world has taken notice! Thomas is currently trending. In addition to the new touring exhibition that debuted this year, her work is also featured in Giants, and Multiplicity.
Artwork above: Mickalene Thomas, Portraits of Quanikah, 2006. (detail) acrylic, rhinestone and enamel on panel, 15 panels, overall 70 x 126 in.
Mickalene Thomas - Trending
The Camden, New Jersey-born artist's work is the focus of a new touring special exhibition, Mickalene Thomas: All About Love, on view until September 29, 2024.
Featured on Netflix
Mickalene Thomas art was spotted adorning the office of Jill Scott's character on the BET-produced First Wives Club, Season 4, now on Netflix.
Mickalene Thomas, Baby I Am Ready Now, 2007, acrylic, rhinestone and enamel on panel, diptych, overall 72 x 132 in.
Other Views
Hank Willis Thomas
Hank Willis Thomas, Branded Head, 2003, Digital C-print, Ed. AP
99 x 52 in
Amoako Boafo
Hudson in a Baby Blue Suit, 2019, oil on canvas
78 1/2 x 61 1/2 in.
Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe
Singular Views also features work by a number of DC and Baltimore-based artists, including February James, Murjoni Merriweather, Rozeal, Sylvia Snowden, and John Waters. “Our goal continues to be to both showcase artists whose work engages with the most pressing ideas and issues of today and to introduce artists that audiences may not have previously encountered within the DC cultural landscape,” said Mera Rubell.
Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe and Murjoni Merriweather are two powerful storytellers who want Black people to feel 'seen.' Quaicoe is a Portland, Oregon-based artist who was born and raised in Accra, Ghana. A Rubell 2021 Artist-in-Residence., he creates bold portraits of Black figures - often his friends and family in Ghana - that explore representation and empowerment while using color and texture to express the subject's character. See more.
The Baltimore, Maryland-based Murjoni creates sculptures based on real people and real experiences. She works to counter stereotypes by subverting the European standards of “beauty” imposed on people of color. Murjoni's goals are to normalize natural black bodies by boldly celebrating the aesthetics of Black culture.
Artwork above: (l-r) Moses Adomah, 2021, oil on canvas , David Theodore, 2021, oil on canvas, Rainyanni (Cowgirl), 2021, oil on canvas; all 3 works: 144 x 108 in., acquired in 2021 (installation view)
Murjoni Merriweather
Murjoni Merriweather
Sculptures above: Installation view from
Murjoni Merriweather room
Matthew Day Jackson
Harriet (First Portrait), 2006, Woodburned drawing, scorched wood, yarn, aniline dye, scorched eagles, mother of pearl, abalone & black panther eyes on wood panel, (detail below) 96 x 72. in.
"Harriet was one in a series of oval devotional paintings that I made based on biographies that I was reading. I wanted to use this compositional strategy (oval) as it removed the pictorial conventions of figure and ground thereby focusing all attention to the figure in the portrait. As a young person, Tubman was attacked and sustained a head injury that caused hallucinations and narcoleptic episodes for the rest of her life. In some of the hallucinations she would envision herself from a bird's eye view which would help navigate her journeys as a conductor in the Underground Railroad. The bird motif was mirrored in other aspects of her work, when she used bird calls as a means of covert communication during her many trips guiding her passengers to freedom."
- Matthew Day Jackson
Alexandre Diop
Showing concurrently with Singular Views, is Alexandre Diop: Jooba Jubba, l’Art du Defi, the Art of Challenge. The Franco-Senegalese Diop - named 'One to Watch,' in our Spring '24 Arts Guide, was also a Rubell Museum Artist-in-Residence. Diop's work is a combination of painting, sculpture, and relief. He uses discarded objects to create large-scale, multi-layered paintings on panel. Drawing inspiration from his European and African roots, his work explores the legacies of colonialism and diaspora while tackling universal themes of ancestry, suffering, and historical violence. For this show, he sourced discarded material from the museum neighborhood, so the art would have a 'connection' to DC. The panels express what he feels are the negative effects of 'artificial realities, virtual reality and modern technology.' The shows are on view through September 15, 2024.
Artwork above: Honi soit qui mal y pense [Shame be (to him) who thinks evil of it], 2022, mixed media on wood, 60 x 120 in.
Alexandre Diop
Installation view. L’Histoire du Monde – Le Temps et L’Espace [The History of the World – Time and Space], 2022 mixed media on wood triptych, overall 144 x 288 in. acquired in 2022.