overtly sensual representation of her subjects, she is reveling “in the glittery spoils of success at the expense of meaningful social engagement.” Proponents of her work, however, believe that her approach to representing her subjects “reflects the shift in black art from didactic political narrative to post-black satire.” Regarding the way in which the subjects meet the viewer’s gaze, Seattle Art Museum curator Catharina Manchanda remarked, "these women are so grounded and perfectly comfortable in their own space... While we might be looking at them, they are also sizing us up." MoMA curator Klaus Biesenbach who originally commissioned the painting for the 53rd street window display explained that he requested Thomas largely because "her treatment of surfaces as complex layers of material, lacquer, rhinestone and paint corresponds with the libidinous nature of the contents she depicts." Since the original installment of this painting wherein the piece was exhibited as a singular display, Le déjeuner sur l'herbe: Les Trois Femmes Noires has been included in a number of exhibits across North America including the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Seattle Art Museum, and the Baltimore Museum of Art. Film, music, and video art In addition to her paintings, the Brooklyn-based Thomas works in the mediums of photography, collage, printmaking, video art, sculpture and installation art. Her works, in particular the Odalisque series (2007), have been interpreted as "investigating the artist-model relationship [...] but from an updated perspective of female inter-subjectivity and same-sex desire." (La Leçon d'amour, 2008) She has restaged themes and symbolism with a long lineage in Western art in her references to the odalisque representation of women in exotic settings. She experimented with institutional images in FBI/Serial Portraits (2008), based on mug shots of African-American women. In 2012, Mickalene Thomas: Origin of the Universe, her first major solo museum exhibition, opened at the Santa Monica Museum of Art and traveled to the Brooklyn Museum. This show, the title of which references Gustave Courbet’s 1866 painting L’Origine du monde, showcased a series of recent portraits, landscapes and interiors. Thomas has collaborated with musician Solange, creating the cover art for her 2013 EP True. The cover began as a portrait of Solange the artist herself commissioned. Thomas and Solange also collaborated on a trailer for the music video for the song "Losing You." Her short film Happy Birthday to a Beautiful Woman, created for her exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, is