Mickalene Thomas: Beyond the Pleasure Principle

Lévy Gorvy is presenting an international exhibition of the artist Mickalene Thomas, unfolding across four of its gallery spaces in New York, London, Paris, and Hong Kong. Titled “Beyond the Pleasure Principle,” the New York iteration of this major presentation will highlight Thomas’s exploration of the Black female body as an entity of power, eroticism, inspiration, and agency through a unique environment showcasing the latest of the artist’s “Jet” paintings. Shown alongside a video made in collaboration with the artist’s muse and life partner, the art advisor, curator, and collector Racquel Chevremont, the works on view have been made using images from vintage Jet Magazine pin-up calendars, which Thomas has recontextualized in multimedia portraits celebrating the strength, beauty, and individuality of her anonymous subjects.