The unapologetic portrait Maya No. 10, is a bold celebration of love and sexuality, conveying strength, beauty, power, and vulnerability all at once. Modes of intimate relations come to inform Maya No. 10, which is based on a series of photographs shot with a 35 mm disposable camera Thomas had taken of Maya, her muse and lover from years gone by, in their home and basement studio on Lexington Avenue, Brooklyn.
The sensual Maya is empowered, sparkled, and poised, commanding her outward gaze and the space with her arms raised behind her head like wings spread, exuding a powerful sense of self-possession, through which she emboldens her viewers, forcing them to engage with her. The acrylic and rhinestone work embodies Thomas’s signature ability to apply several layers of material and symbolic meaning, unmasking our world of appearances into a single surface, and challenging conventional boundaries of technique and material. Collage is a foundational element in her practice, revealing the conception and intimate stages of her artistic vision, visible also in the double exposure on Maya's chest. The projected image on her chest is almost like an X-ray, looking into her soul, as Thomas herself described it.
By layering several photos of Maya, and by juxtaposing the painted elements with photographic elements, a depth of field or visual illusion is formed, creating rhythm and movement. Thomas likewise celebrates the textures of materials just as she celebrates the textures and contours of Black womanhood. Gravitating towards the unconventional, she latched onto Rhinestones, a tool that came to be a signature of Thomas’ work, first out of necessity and then when she was thinking of French impressionism, specifically Georges Seurat and Pointillism, and a tool that symbolizes the complexity of femininity for Thomas. Unifying all these elements in this larger-than-life work, Thomas invites viewers into the bold and dynamic universe she has created in Maya No. 10, where any viewer would be unable to divert their gaze from.
“ I want the muse to see themselves the way I see them – very strong, confident, incredibly monumental and breathtakingly gorgeous. „