‘Mickalene Thomas: Waiting on a Prime-Time Star’ opens at Moody Center for the Arts

“Mickalene Thomas: Waiting on a Prime-Time Star” opened at Rice’s Moody Center for the Arts Sept. 28. The exhibition will be on view through Jan. 13 in the Moody’s Brown Foundation and Central galleries. It feature paintings, photographs, collages, prints and mixed-media works that explore the artist’s complex vision of female sexuality, identity and power. Thomas’ portraits, landscapes and interiors examine how African-American women are represented in art and popular culture and confront assumptions about what defines the female experience in the 21st century. Thomas’ work draws on her close study of art history and the classical genres of portraiture and landscape. Inspired by diverse sources from Romare Bearden, Édouard Manet, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and Henri Matisse to contemporary film, fashion and popular culture, Thomas challenges notions of femininity from a contemporary perspective. By modeling her figures and interiors on classically modern works, she claims agency for women who have historically been subjugated.

The Moody’s exhibition spaces and café are open to the public and free of charge Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closed Sundays, Mondays and holidays.

(Photos by Jeff Fitlow)