This work was created for I was born to do great things, Mickalene Thomas’ first solo exhibition with Kavi Gupta gallery in Chicago in 2014. The exhibition celebrated Thomas’ relationship with her recently deceased mother, and explored the inspiration that she had on Thomas’ art. Known for her portraits of Black women, which typically include references to fashion, jewelry and craft, Thomas centered these normally supporting elements, creating art objects out of her mother’s possessions. The exhibition space was filled with a haunting mixture of actual personal possessions and cast bronze replicas, such as earrings, domestic items, and clothing. The bronze casting process had the effect of destroying the original object, and simultaneously creating a version of it that could live forever, evoking the dichotomies between creation and destruction, and inspiration and legacy.

Artist Background
New York-based artist Mickalene Thomas (b. 1971, USA) is best known for her elaborate paintings composed of rhinestones, acrylic and enamel. Thomas introduces a complex vision of what it means to be a woman and expands common definitions of beauty. Her work stems from her long study of art history and the classical genres of portraiture, landscape, and still life. Inspired by various sources that range from the 19th century Hudson River School to Edouard Manet, Henri Matisse and Romare Bearden, she continues to explore notions of beauty from a contemporary perspective infused with the more recent influences of popular culture and Pop Art.

Recent exhibitions include Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, MOCA Los Angeles, Aspen Art Museum, Queens Museum of Art and the ICA Boston. Thomas' work is in several public collections, including 21c Museum, The Akron Art Museum, The Art Institute of Chicago, Baltimore Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, The Guggenheim Museum, New York, The International Center of Photography, Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The Museum of Modern Art, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art.