Championing The Marginalized, Bailey House Honors Artist Mickalene Thomas And Her ‘Divine Orchestration’

Mickalene Thomas, who fluidly and fiercely navigates a variety of media to create compelling visual narratives that celebrate black and future-proof female identities, received the 2024 Gina Quattrochi Arts & Legacy Award Monday night to benefit the Bailey House Art House in The. Bowery Hotel.

The second annual Art House raised funds for housing and other lifesaving programs for thousands of New Yorkers. This year's live and silent auctions showcased a wide range of artwork from emerging and established artists including Alex Dodge, Angelo Filomeno, Anthony Castro, Ashley Longshore, Ben Evans, Boris Torres, CJ Chueca, Candace Hicks, Cecile Chong, Chan Chao, Damien Davis. , Dana Robinson, David Pher, Diane Schottenstein, Dylan Hurwitz, Emerald Rose Whipple, Emilio Perez, Eric Manuel Santoscoy-McKillip, Helen Esberg, Jeremy Sorese, Judie Swanson, Julia Kunin, Justin Allen, Karlos Carcamo, Kevin Sabo, Linda Dennery, Louis Venturelli, Marisol Martinez, Mickalene Thomas, Nicole Eisenman, Pacifico Silano, Peter Harkawik, Peter Tunney, Philip von Zweck, Rob Davis, Rob Wynne, Ruben Baghdasaryan, Ruben Natal-San Miguel, Sarah Gibeault, Stephanie Gonzalez-Turner, Taha Clayton , and Wil Pierce, along with works donated by The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation and Herb Ritts Foundation. Founded in 1983 by a coalition of community leaders responding to the AIDS crisis that devastated downtown Manhattan's vibrant art scene, Bailey House became the first community organization in the United States to address poverty, homelessness , food insecurity, mental health and substance use. , and chronic diseases to improve health outcomes for marginalized and low-income New Yorkers living with HIV.

“I'm really humbled,” Thomas said, accepting the honor. “While I may not know all of you personally, your presence here tonight tells me that you support and advocate for underrepresented groups, many of whom I often feature in my work, such as the black community, the queer community, the most vulnerable New York City, who need us to be their voice tonight, tomorrow and beyond. As an artist who seeks to give voice to those who are not heard in many ways, I am grateful to Bailey House and all make it possible.”

The award honors the life-changing legacy of advocacy of Quattrochi, longtime CEO of Bailey House, who died in 2016 at the age of 63. Thomas joins notable supporters and honorees of the Bailey House event over the years, including Nan Goldin, Nicole Eisenman, Whoopi Goldberg, Debbie Harry, The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, Cynthia Nixon, Catherine Opie and Billy Porter.

Spanning paintings, collages, photography, video and installations, Thomas' unique body of work borrows from art history and popular culture to convey original representations of female sexuality, femininity, beauty and the power Her elaborate portraits, landscapes and interiors explore identity and gender in contemporary life, while charting the historical canon of art. Thomas uses rhinestones to overlay and amplify parts of her paintings, cultivating a nuanced visual language that subverts normative representations of femininity and sexuality. Rhinestones capture and refract light, like diamonds, giving sparkle and shine. Deriving their name from rock crystals collected from the Rhine River, rhinestones have played a myriad of roles in popular culture, embellishing clothing and accessories since the 18th century, adorning the stage costumes of Elvis Presley and Liberace, and dazzling the faces and bodies of social media influencers and flamboyants.

“Through my art, I often and continue to use black women as a vehicle, as a reflection, of who I am in my world, and to create various forms that are presented in these traditional spaces and historical spaces, because they are spaces that do not we often see ourselves, but we know these are spaces we deserve to be in,” Thomas said.

Robert Verdi, a self-described “Fearless Entrepreneur + Fashion Superhero + Unstoppable Tastemaker,” charmed the crowd with his eloquent introduction.

“In its current exhibition at the Broad Museum in Los Angeles, walking through the galleries raises questions about the depths of our society's consciousness and awareness of black beauty, inclusion and representation,” Verdi said. “In his more than 20 years of creation Mickalene has not abdicated his responsibility to the truth of things. His whole life is a reaction to hostility, to intolerance. All he does is blur the lines about what is acceptable and offering options for people whose ideals do not fit the limited standard of beauty.It is through the eyes of this artist and her vision to show us the world as it is voice, steeped in feminine power and overflowing with seduction. She's in her power right now. act of creation and the act of living your purpose, which is not static.There is no mountaintop that my friend Mickalene Thomas can reach.Intuit what possibilities we believe are in the future and move to bring – them in the present. His life and work are part of a divine orchestration.”

With more than 90 works created over the last two decades, Mickalene Thomas: All about loveit can be seen at The Broad until September 29. The exhibition shares its title and themes with the 2018 New York Times bestselling pioneering black feminist author, theorist, educator, and social critic Bell Hooks, who investigates the social ills that divide and shape our society. a healing future.