Mickalene Thomas: All About Love, by Sailor Holladay

Mickalene Thomas: All About Love
Broad Museum, Los Angeles, Ca. May 25-Sept 29, 2024

Bronzed Crocs, by Mickalene Thomas (USA) 2014. Photo taken by author, Sailor Holladay.

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Walking into Mickalene Thomas’ intimate, uncramped brownstone erected in The Broad Museum in LA, it was clear the artist’s Crocs have been bronzed since 2014. Metals refract throughout the winding installation as sequins, rhinestones, glitter, and paint fracture and piece the work back together into giant kintsugi quilts. The work is alchemical, Thomas’ materials and techniques transport us to the parts of our pasts we most want to bring with us: the scraps of fabric, the tastes, and the scents of our beloveds.

Wrestlers Series, by Mickalene Thomas (USA) contemporary. Photo taken by author, Sailor Holladay.

The insides of this show were the sitcom we never had, the queerest version of our old church basements, wall-to-wall carpet and wood paneling, bedazzled wrestlers pushing around the walls, all Mickalene. Pressures pushed back into the artist’s body by the artist, a whirling dervish of self desire. I kept looking for a popcorn cart. We plopped down onto the red vinyl bed seats that felt like supportive mitts and my old friend told me his abuelo just turned 102. What’s his secret?” I asked. “Being unapologetically himself”, my friend retorted. Was refusing to move back to the U.S. a part of it too?

I Still Love You (You Still Love Me) (Brawlin’ Spitfire 2), by Mickalene Thomas (USA) 2007. Photo taken by author, Sailor Holladay.

Standing in the glory of one of the works, Three Graces: Les Trois Femme Noires, I told my old friend I wanted to live with the piece. Not like have it in my bedroom, though that would be nice, I meant I wanted to be alive next to this painting. ​

Three Graces: Les Trois Femmes Noires, by Mickalene Thomas (USA) 2011. Photo taken by author, Sailor Holladay.

Thomas’ show is what you can find on the other side of the door once you choose to leave a place no longer aligned with who you want to be. Past that gate are gardens with women in repose. Safety through luxuriation. ​

The Jet Series, by Mickalene Thomas (USA) 2007. Photo taken by author, Sailor Holladay.

Thomas’ show holds out a possibility of not just the repeated warmth of our own bed, but the confidence to make work the size of the best bed we’ve ever slept in with the lovers of our choosing, be that solo or more.

from The Jet Series, by Mickalene Thomas (USA) 2007. Photo taken by author, Sailor Holladay.

With painstaking excellence, Thomas reminds us we get to choose who we surround ourselves with and this show is what the world looks like when we choose love. 

I left Thomas’ courtyard garden wondering, what if no one ever lived alone again but we each had all the space we needed?

Sailor Holladay
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Sailor Holladay is a public school teacher, writer, and quilter living in Oregon.

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