ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE MIKALENE THOMAS

Mikalene Thomas & Rivian, Brooklyn Museum, Oct. 2012

Mikalene Thomas is one of the artists that I have been teaching since I discovered her a few years ago when she was relatively unknown. Her work spoke to me immediately and she has not only influenced my own work but my students as well. So, when we were in New York in Oct. I was thrilled to see that she was having her first solo museum show @ The Brooklyn Museum. The exhibition is called "Origin of the Universe" after a painting by the 19th Century French Realist painter Gustave Courbet.  As you will see below, her paintings exude opulence and Female beauty as well as dignity! All of her work is embellished with rhinestones giving the work a "bling" which I just love. Thomas' work involves much more than luxuriousness, it is obvious that she has an understanding of Art History and is influenced by many of the Masters along with Courbet such as Manet, Matisse and Bearden. "As a black woman who loves women, Ms. Thomas is in a double bind, and she makes the
most of this in order to transcend it. Through the scale and material capaciousness of painting, she celebrates, decorates and really venerates the black female body by making it and its lavish surroundings bracingly tangible. She doesn’t so much depict a universal humanity as practically force it into the viewer’s place, where it implicates, illuminates and bedazzles." Roberta Smith
By the way, I agree with Roberta Smith who wrote in her excellent New York Times review of the Thomas show that "Her big portraits, especially, would have enlivened the predictable Warhol show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art."

Sooo, I'm walking around the Brooklyn Museum looking at the gorgeous paintings and all of a sudden I notice a Woman that I think is Mikalene Thomas, (because I have seen photos of her on line). So, I get my nerve up and walk over and ask her if she is in fact the Artist. She was and she was so nice and friendly.  (I sort of felt like a "groupie"). I asked her if my Husband could take a photo and as you can see above , she said "of course"!
I know that you will enjoy the paintings below by the Artist Mikalene Thomas.

Le Dejueuner Sur L'herbe: Les Trois Femmes Noir, 2010 rhinestones, acrylic, enamel on wood panel 

Detail of above

une très belle négresse #2, 2012.
 Rhinestones, acrylic paint, and oil enamel on wood panel

Monet's Salle a Manger, Jaune, 2012
inspired by the artist's residency in 2011 @ Giverny, Monet's Gardens in France

Sandra, (Mikalene's Mother)

    

Detail

Detail

GAYLE TAUBER, ARTISTE D'EXCELLENCE

Gayle Tauber, Lucien Freud, Oil

Gayle Tauber has been involved in entrepreneurial businesses for more than 40 years, mostly as a cofounder of startups that focused on health/wellness, social responsibility and the preservation of capital.  Her most recent business, Kashi Company – a producer and marketer of cereals and grain-based products  was started in 1983 and sold to the Kellogg Company in 2000. Gayle started drawing as a young girl, but it was not until she sold her business that she had time to pursue her art interest with her first teacher, Rivian Butikofer, "who has skillfully guided and nurtured her artistic exploration."

Gayle has been painting with me for several years.  Her Master has been and continues to be Lucien Freud, the greatest portrait painter of the 20th Century & beginning of the 21st Century until his death. December 1922 – 20 July 2011. "...was a German-born British painter. Known chiefly for his thickly impastoed portrait and figure paintings, he was widely considered the pre-eminent British artist of his time. His works are noted for their psychological penetration, and for their often discomforting examination of the relationship between artist and model." (Wikipedia)

Like Freud, Gayle is guided by her commitment to exploring the psychology of her subject, their "inner being" if you will, rather than simply their exterior manifestation. This is not to say that she is not searching for her "own work", she is! For example Gayle is using a more extensive palette than Freud does. It is always extremely challenging to have a master such as Lucien Freud and try not to compare yourself to him! I am so proud of my student GAYLE TAUBER, ARTISTE D'EXCELLENCE!

Gayle Tauber, Freud, Oil

Gayle Tauber, Jerra, Acrylic

Gayle Tauber, Sage, Oil

Gayle Talber, Self Portrait, Acrylic

Lucien Freud, Photo

Note: You may also look at my previous post on Gayle from Dec. 20, 2010

SHAREART was #1 on Google for Andy Goldsworthy Land Artist search-new sculpture by CAROLYN MARSDEN!

Carolyn Marsden-Mixed-Media Sculpture

THREAD FIVE FOR MAKING ART-SELF PORTRAITS

      

Acrylic, 2007-Rivian

Many times we just do not know what to draw or paint.  This has been the way of artists for a long time.  That is why so many of the masters did SELF PORTRAITS.  So, if you are stuck on what to do next, just do a SELF PORTRAIT.  Following are a few examples of some of my work.  I will be posting many SELF PORTRAITS by the masters in the next posts.

Chalk Pastels, 2002-Rivian

Mixed Media, 1997- Rivian

 Photo Transfer- Rivian

Mixed Media on cardboard & wood,2009- Rivian

Acrylic, 2009-Rivian

"WE ALL HAVE OUR OWN EGYPT"

Rivian in front of "We All Have Our Own Egypt"

The mixed-media piece shown is "WE ALL HAVE OUR OWN EGYPT" my most recent piece that was in an invitational show that opened March 9, 2011 at the GOTTHELF GALLERY, Lawrence Family J.C.C San Diego. 

“WE ALL HAVE OUR OWN EGYPT” is Inspired by THE EXODUS, the parting of the red sea. The torn canvas represents the sea. The Swarovsky  crystals & gold leaf  symbolize the JEWISH PEOPLE having been freed from Egypt & making their way to “The PROMISED LAND”, ISRAEL. Written in Hebrew on the golden path is “He Set Them Free”

Painted in the sky is, (in Hebrew, “BLESSED ART THOU….” & painted in English, “Blessed art thou o Lord….”

‘THE SUN IS RISING TO A BRIGHTER DAY!”