From the Hara Museum, Tokyo
Mickalene Thomas—Mama Bush: One of a Kind Two Project
Place: Gallery I, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art (Tokyo)
Dates: February 17 (Thurs.) – June 12 (Sun.), 2011
Also on view: Be Alive!—Selections from the Hara Museum Collection（Place: Galleries II, II, IV, V）
The Hara Museum of Contemporary Art is pleased to announce a special project entitled Mickalene Thomas–Mama Bush: One of a Kind Two, to be carried out by the artist Mickalene Thomas in Gallery I of the museum.
Mickalene Thomas, Mama Bush: One of a Kind Two, 2009
Based in New York, Mickalene Thomas (born in 1971) has become widely known for her portrait paintings done in vivid colors and rhinestones. She garnered much attention when work that she did for The Museum of Modern Art, New York was installed in a window on 53rd Street for 10 months from March 2010. Thomas received an BFA from the Pratt Institute in 2000 and an MFA from the Yale University School of Art in 2002. Her present work consists of photographs, collages, videos and large-scale paintings. African-American women appear as models in her works, which are strongly informed by the artist’s own identity as an African-American. In these works, boldly rendered women strike poses of a dignified or provocative manner, and are highly suggestive of the Blackploitation idiom of 1970s America (the text was altered. New text:
This project, which takes place in Gallery I of the museum, was first conceived after the museum acquired the painting Mama Bush: One of a Kind Two, which features the artist’s mother as the model. During the project, part of the “stage setting” used by the artist in her New York studio wil be reproduced as an installation, allowing viewrs to understand the artist’s approach to her subject matter and her craetive process. Mama Bush: One of a Kind Two (2009), shows a nude woman, who is the artist’s mother Sandra, in a composition reminiscent of Ingre’s masterpiece Odalisque. According to the artist, her mother is her “No.1 muse,” but for years they were estranged. By painting her mother, the artist believed she might close the gap that had grown between mother and daughter. and so this and other works of her mother were born. The selection of artworks with her mother Sandra Bush as the subject encompasses a variety of issues such as race and gender, and may be thought of as the starting point for Thomas’s work.
The artist is scheduled to come to Japan for this project and will give artist talks in association with Black History Month, an event organized by the U.S. Embassy, Tokyo. At the Hara Museum (Tokyo), she is scheduled to give a talk on Thursday, February 17. The artist’s work will also be featured at the highly renowned contemporary art fair G Tokyo 2011 which will be held about the same time as this project.
Exhibition Data
Title: Mickalene Thomas–Mama Bush: One of a Kind Two
Dates: February 17 (Thurs.) – June 12 (Sun.), 2011
*Also on view: Be Alive! ―Selections from the Hara Museum Collection
Organized by: Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Hara Museum Fund
Special grant by: U.S. Embassy, Tokyo
Cooperation provided by: Lehmann Maupin Gallery, Gallery Koyanagi
Place: Gallery I, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art
(4-7-25, Kitashinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 140-0001)
Tel: 03-3445-0651
http://www.haramuseum.or.jp
http://mobile.haramuseum.or.jp
https://www.art-it.asia/en/u/HaraMuseum_e (blog)
Hours: 11:00 am – 5:00 pm, Wednesdays (except May 4) until 8:00 pm *Last entry 30 min. before closing.
The museum will operate with shortened opening hours on weekdays in order to cooperate with power saving for the time being. For further details, please check the following article.（2011/03/26）
Closed: Mondays (open on March 21) and March 22
Admission: General 1,000 yen. Students 700 yen (high school and university) or 500 yen (elementary and junior high). Free for Hara Museum members and students through high school every Saturday during the school term. 100 yen discount per person for groups of 20 or more.
Directions: 5 min. by taxi or 15 min. on foot from JR Shinagawa Station (Takanawa exit); or from the same station take the No.96 bus, get off at the first stop (Gotenyama), and walk 3 min./ The BloomBUS! free shuttle bus service is available between Shinagawa Station (Takanawa exit) and the Hara Museum every Sunday until June 12, 2011 (Sponsored by: Bloomberg L.P./ Artist: Yasuhiro Suzuki). Please check the Hara Museum website for further details.
Related Event: Artist Talk: Mickalene Thomas
February 17 (Thurs.), 2011 6:30 – 8:00 pm (door opens at 6:00 pm)
Organized by: Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, U.S. Embassy, Tokyo
*Free of charge. Talk will be given in English with Japanese interpretation.
Reservation is required (Added on February 16/reservation is closed.)
For reservations Tel: 03-3445-0669 E-mail: info@haramuseum.or.jp
Guests will be able to enjoy the collection exhibition as well as the Mickalene Thomas project.
Featured works (to be scheduled)
Mama Bush: One of a Kind Two (2009), 274.3 x 365.8 x 5.1cm, rhinestones, acrylic and enamel on panel
Ain’t I a Woman (Sandra) (2009), installation [consisting of painting (rhinestones, acrylic and enamel on panel/ size: 91.4 x 71.1 cm), monitor (45.7 x 61 x 13.5cm), DVD]
Still life with flowers on flower (2009), 152.4 x 121.9 cm, rhinestones, acrylic and enamel on panel
*Above works and photographs will be shown.
[Mickalene Thomas]
Born in 1971, Thomas graduated from Pratt Institute in 2000 with B.F.A. in painting and from Yale University School of Art in 2002 with M.F.A. in painting. From 2002 to 2003, she participated in the Artist-in-Residence program at The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York. In 2010, she was commissioned by The Museum of Modern Art, New York to make a work for their window on 53rd Street. Public collection includes the Guggenheim Museum, New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Brooklyn Museum, New York, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, and others.
Artist website: http://mickalenethomas.com/
Gallery website: http://www.lehmannmaupin.com/#/artists/mickalene-thomas/
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Be Alive!—Selections from the Hara Museum Collection
Dates: January 14 (Fri.) – June 12 (Sun.), 2011
The BloomBUS! free shuttle bus service is available between Shinagawa Station (Takanawa exit) and the Hara Museum every Sunday until June 12, 2011 (Sponsored by: Bloomberg L.P./ Artist: Yasuhiro Suzuki). Please check here for further details.
Hara Museum is now participating in MuPon (museum discount ticket system using iPhone application)!
http://www.tokyoartbeat.com/apps/mupon
Hara Museum websites
http://www.haramuseum.or.jp (website)
http://mobile.haramuseum.or.jp (mobile site)
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