Mickalene Thomas

Mickalene Thomas

Henzel Studio’s collaboration with Mickalene Thomas forms one of the studio’s most expansive artist-led dialogues, spanning three hand-knotted rugs and three chromogenic print carpets. Developed across several works, the collaboration brings Thomas’ layered visual language into direct conversation with textile, scale and architectural space.

Thomas is widely recognized for a multidisciplinary practice that brings together art history, photography, collage, painting, installation and popular culture. Her work challenges conventional narratives of beauty, power and representation, often centering Black femininity through compositions shaped by pattern, texture, interiors and image culture.

The rug holds a natural resonance within Thomas’ practice. Her installations often incorporate textiles, wallpaper, furniture and decorative objects, creating immersive environments where personal memory and broader cultural histories converge. In this context, Henzel Studio’s process does not simply translate her imagery into another format. It extends her exploration of surface, texture, pattern and spatial experience, allowing the work to enter the room as both image and object.

Image: Mickalene Thomas, portrait. Courtesy the artist.

Material, Image and Space

The hand-knotted work, MICKALENE THOMAS, Untitled #14 (2015 / 2025), was launched at Henzel Studio Collaborations 1st Decade in conjunction with Frieze Los Angeles at PDC Design Gallery, formerly MOCA West Hollywood. Issued in an edition of 10 + 1 AP, numbered and accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity, the work is hand-knotted in wool, linen, nettle and silk, with high / low cut detailing.

Through bold color, layered composition and dynamic surface interplay, Untitled #14 extends Thomas’ visual language into a tactile and architectural form. The hand-knotted process gives the image physical depth, reconstructing pattern, figure and abstraction through material contrast, carved relief and shifts in pile height.

Racquel Come to Me (2019) is adapted from a unique photo drawing collage created specifically for this project. Its irregular, free-form shape brings together references from art history, popular culture and politics, transformed through hand-knotting into a textile field of image, texture and spatial presence.

Candy Crush (2013) marked the beginning of Thomas’ collaboration with Henzel Studio and was launched at Barneys New York, Madison Avenue, during Frieze Art Fair in 2014. The work introduced Thomas’ layered visual language into the hand-knotted medium through collage, image sampling, pattern and material density.

Alongside the hand-knotted editions, Henzel Studio has developed three chromogenic print carpets with Thomas. Produced using advanced chromogenic printing on velour with an integrated non-slip backing, each work preserves exceptional image clarity while introducing tactile and spatial presence. Available through the Quick Ship program, every chromogenic design can also be commissioned in custom, proportionally adjusted dimensions with delivery in approximately two weeks, at architectural scales of up to 400 cm / 157 inches in width with virtually unlimited length.

Seen together, Thomas’ hand-knotted rugs and chromogenic print carpets demonstrate how Henzel Studio’s artist collaborations can move across material systems without diluting the conceptual force of the work. In Thomas’ case, image becomes environment, collage becomes surface, and the rug becomes a site where representation, memory, texture and space converge.

Image: MICKALENE THOMAS, Untitled #14, 2015 / 2025