I've Been Good to Me

2015

Benefit Print Project

(American, 2010-)

Culture

America

Medium

Mixed media collage with screenprint, mono and digital printing, leopard print paper, wood veneer, and silica flocking

Measurements

Image: 130.5 x 103 cm (51 3/8 x 40 9/16 in.); Sheet: 143.5 x 114.3 cm (56 1/2 x 45 in.)

Credit Line

Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2020.226

Edition

edition of 20 (4 AP, 4 RP, 2 PP, 1 BAT, 2 donation proofs to charity)

Impression

Reserved Proof (1 of 4)

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

Mickalene Thomas’s interest in Jet and African American fashion publications was influenced by her mother, who dreamed of becoming a model herself.

Description

Mickalene Thomas uses collage to combine art historical and pop cultural references and question societal standards for Black femininity. Combining photography and printmaking, Thomas cultivates the aesthetic of publications such as Jet from the 1960s through 80s. This work features a woman who confidently adapts a pose from Impressionist painter Edouard Manet’s 1862 canvas Luncheon on the Grass. Each element of the collage was individually printed and hand assembled in a process that took over two years to complete.