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Resist #2

Mickalene Thomas

Resist #2

2020

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Mickalene Thomas

Resist #2

2020

Physical Qualities Acrylic, oil stick, rhinestones, and glitter on canvas, 84 × 108 × 2 in. (213.4 × 274.3 × 5.1 cm.)
Credit Line Purchase with exchange funds from the Pearlstone Family Fund and partial gift of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
Object Number 2021.13
Created in 2020 during the Black Lives Matter movement, this painting testifies and bears witness to racial discrimination while centering Baltimore as a site of resistance to violent oppression. The painting layers Baltimore history, interweaving images of the 1968 social protests and upheaval following Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination with images from the 300 Men March of 2015, a nonviolent movement formed in response to 25-year-old Freddie Gray’s death from injuries sustained while in police custody. It also highlights Rev. Pamela Coleman, Associate Pastor for Justice Issues at God Can Ministries United Church of Christ, who stood at the front lines of protests both ministering to demonstrators and calling for justice and reform. Thomas collapses these moments into one image, evoking how history repeats itself. Glitter and rhinestones enhance the scene, amplifying its emotional and political urgency.
Christopher Bedford, Asma Naeem, and Katy Siegel, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Now is the Time: Recent Acquisitions to the Contemporary Collection," May 2, 2021 to July 18, 2021.

Artist

Mickalene Thomas

1970–2000

born Camden, NJ 1971
Meet Mickalene Thomas

Explore the Collection Further

Meleko Mokgosi
Acts of Resistance I
2017
Mickalene Thomas and Brand X Projects
Michelle O
2007
Marcantonio Raimondi and Francesco Francia [Francesco Raibolini]
Temptation and Resistance
1499–1533
Félix Bracquemond, Jean Alexandre Joseph Falguière, and others
La Statue de la Résistance
1873
Jar Decorated with Resist Motif
701–733
Jizhou kilns
Tea Bowl Decorated Resist Pattern of Flower Blossoms
1100–1299
Honoré Daumier
Robert-Macaire devant ses juges. Hé bien ! Oui Messieurs, j’ai eu des malheurs en cour d’assises…… Mais le malheur est toujours respectable !… D’ailleurs s’il est vrai, comme on l’a dit, que j’aie l’habitude des soustractions, je suis plus excusable qu’un autre puisqu’il m’est plus difficile de résister à mon penchant…….. Au reste, je suis accusé d’avoir vendu du plomb pour de l’or ? Vingt témoins le soutiennent hé bien ! Je le nie quarante fois et puisque deux négations valent une affirmation, il est clair que vous devez nécessairement m’acquitter. Après cette brillante improvisation Robert-Macaire est condamné au maximum de la peine.
1836