When Ends Meet #1, 2007 ⁠ ⁠ Rhinestones, acrylic, enamel on wood panels ⁠ ⁠ Mickalene Thomas’s collage-like paintings often combine traditional artistic media with colorful acrylics and rhinestone embellishments, referencing both pop culture and art history in her explorations of celebrity and power. By utilizing art-historical styles in her works, Thomas inserts her contemporary subjects into the canon of key historic figures and into art history: When Ends Meet #1 depicts media mega-star Oprah Winfrey and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a manner similar to Warhol’s portraits of Marilyn Monroe and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, asserting the status of these 21st-century women. Thomas sourced the images from TV, at once capturing a range of expressions, and yet alluding to how the media controls representation, often denying the complexity of identity for celebrities who must exchange privacy for fame. ⁠ ⁠ #21cPopStars⁠ #WomensHistoryMonth⁠ 21cChicago⁠ #21cMuseum⁠ mickalenet...