Mickalene Thomas: Mentors, Muses, and Celebrities, installation view, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, September 8 – December 31, 2017. Photo: Dusty Kessler.
Mickalene Thomas: Mentors, Muses, and Celebrities, installation view, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, September 8 – December 31, 2017. Photo: Dusty Kessler.

Art at Home: Collaging the Self

Growing up, Mickalene Thomas was conscious of the lack of depictions of black people in art history and even in the media of her time. As a result, she drew particular inspiration from black celebrities such as singer/actress Eartha Kitt and black characters such as Whoopi Goldberg’s Celie in…

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Bethany Collins. Courtesy the artist.
Bethany Collins. Courtesy the artist.

Artist Notes from a Pandemic: Bethany Collins

Bethany Collins moved from one part of Chicago to another in March. “Moving day during a pandemic is definitely worse,” she tells me. But her new neighborhood offers a more walkable part of the city and a daily walk has become part of the quarantine regimen. Collins and I laugh…

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Nicola Tyson, installation view, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, January 27 – April 16, 2017. Photo: David Johnson.
Nicola Tyson, installation view, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, January 27 – April 16, 2017. Photo: David Johnson.

Art at Home: Automatic Drawing

Upon first glance, British-born artist Nicola Tyson’s portraits may call to mind words like ‘ghoulish’ and ‘child-like.’ While viewers may be able to discern a human figure, the bodies and features are so distorted that it’s impossible to determine what the subjects look like. This is because Tyson…

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"I ask him to send me a picture that reflects the situation he is in." Courtesy Paul Mpagi Sepuya.

Artist Notes from a Pandemic: Paul Mpagi Sepuya

Even though CAM has been closed since March, a conversation with Paul Mpagi Sepuya makes me think even more about exhibitions without an audience. Sepuya’s summer survey in St. Louis is now documented in a gorgeous monograph, a selection from thirteen years of the artist’s photographic explorations within…

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