NEW YORK: Mickalene Thomas

Mickalene Thomas. How to Organize a Room Around a Striking Piece of Art, Installation view, 2012. Image via theproposition.com.

decópolis: the talent of others
February 6 – February 24, 2013
Opening Reception: February 8th, 6 – 8pm

THE PROPOSITION
2 Extra Place (@ E 1st Street off Bowery)
New York, NY 

Following her blockbuster solo show, Origin of the Universe, at the Brooklyn Museum of Art and her two-venue exhibition, How to Organize a Room Around a Striking Piece of Art, at Lehmann Maupin Gallery, The Proposition is pleased to collaborate with Mickalene Thomas on a pop-up exhibition entitled decópolis: the talent of others.

Thomas reinstalls the various elements of her tableaux installations–the customized furniture, the 70s-inspired decorative objects, the shag rugs and wood paneling–for the artist-curated exhibition, decópolis: the talent of others. The personalized setting provides Thomas with an ideal backdrop to showcase the work of a group of artists that she has collaborated with through her various projects. These six artists—David Antonio Cruz, Roddy Fitzgerald, Elisabeth Gaffaney, Jayson Keeling, Vincent Oquendo, and Nina Ziefvert—have become a vital part of Thomas’s working process. With this exhibition, she is able to highlight their individual artistic practices within the context of an environment they often help bring to life.

The title of the exhibition decópolis is a hybrid of two words: “Deco” taken from Art Deco, an influential and eclectic style of art made popular in the late 1920s and 30s, and “Polis,” from the ancient Greek word meaning city-state. decópolis can be understood as a “group of artists working across genres and styles that come together to form one collective community.”

For her part, Thomas is debuting a new artistic collaboration with Brother Vellies, a company that produces a style of shoe known as Velskoen (pronounced "fell-skoon" and known colloquially as "Vellies”), the ancestor of the modern-day desert boot. Brother Vellies are made in the coastal town of Swakopmund, Namibia, where a small group of eight Damara gentlemen assemble each shoe by hand, a intricate process that produces only 20 pairs of shoes a day. The brand's Creative Director, Aurora James, worked personally with Thomas to create a capsule collection utilizing Thomas's collection of textiles and fusing them with the brand's traditional designs. All five styles will be on view for the first time and available in limited quantity for pre-order.

On view in decópolis: the talent of others:

David Antonio Cruz presents a collection of small drawings merging the infamous Roger Casement's body with the subjects of his long time photo documentations, which were taken during Casement’s stay in the Congo and Brazil. Cruz has worked as one of Thomas’s production assistants.

Roddy Fitzgerald combines realism and classicism to create stories that represent the contemporary human experience. Fitzgerald has worked with Thomas as her installation coordinator and production assistant for six years.

Elisabeth Gaffaney, who photographs her surrounding environment, focusing on texture, composition and the opulent natural colors that occur in the everyday. Gaffaney is Thomas’s studio manager and serves as a production coordinator on photos shoots and installations.

Jayson Keeling creates artwork that provokes and dismantles pop iconography and the accepted politics of sex, gender, race, and religion by pitting them against the aggressiveness of youth culture. He has worked as Thomas’s photo assistant for seven years.

Vincent Oquendo extracts and pieces together makeup looks from different iconic women and reinvents them in a modern way on his muse. For the pop-up exhibition, Oquendo and Thomas collaborated on a series of five collages based on makeup looks for future photo shoots. Oquendo is a celebrity makeup artist and has collaborated with Thomas for the past four years, including most recently on set with Jessica Chastain for W Magazine and Solange Knowles.

Nina Ziefvert (NINA Z) reintroduces the iconic Swedish clog to the metropolitan market. Her raw yet feminine and functional designs are inspired by her Swedish heritage, global travels and life in Brooklyn. Ziefvert has styled Thomas’s photo shoots for over six years, including recent shoots with Jessica Chastain and Solange Knowles.

Exhibit link