Mickalene Thomas: The Origin of the Universe By David Frankel
April 14-August 18 . Curated by Lisa Melandri. A kind of visual Vagina Monologues, Mickalene Thomas's "The Origin of the Universe" will take as its starting point two images that even today are most often kept behind closed doors, metaphoric or literal: Gustave Courbet's L'Origine du monde, 1866, and Marcel Duchamp's Etant donnes, 1946-66. Thomas is known for paintings and collages that combine garish multipatterned and beglittered decors, arthistorical echoes and references, and racial and sexual debate, and here she will premiere more than a dozen paintings, conceived as a suite for the occasion, as well as her own reimagining of Duchamp's infamous installation.
In its juicy yet venerated content, this exhibition seems both a logical and a daring next step. Travels to the Brooklyn Museum, New York, Sept. 28, 2012- Jan. 20, 2013.