FELANDUS THAMES (b. 1974)

BIO
Felandus Thames is a conceptual artist living and practicing in the greater New York
area. Born in Mississippi, Thames attended the graduate program in Painting and
Printmaking at the Yale University where he received his MFA in 2010. He has been
included in exhibitions at the Kravets Wehby Gallery, Tilton Gallery, Heather James
Gallery, Virginia Museum of Fine Art, USF Contemporary Art Museum, International
Center for Printmaking New York, Contemporary Art Museum Houston, Mississippi
Museum of Art, of Art, Yale University, MoCA Westport, Philadelphia African American
Museum, Art LA, and Miami Basel.
Thames serves as Visiting Critic to Rhode Island School of Design’s MFA in Printmaking
program. Media appearances are numerous and periodicals include the New York
Times, Financial Times, Frieze Magazine, Essence, Politico Magazine, Vanity Fair, and
Art in America. Thames’ work can be found in myriad of prominent international
collections and will featured in the forthcoming Venice Biennale.

STATEMENT
I am interested in creating vessels able to contain beauty and trauma at an equilibrium.
Work that functions in the way that Black music is endowed by, but not the sum of,
Black joy, pain, and suffering. I am invested in the residue of memory decoupled from
nostalgia or narrative. Material choices, never superficial, become central actors in my
practice and often function as surrogates to contested histories and lived experiences of
those who consume them. Materials are the repository of history and memory in my
practice.

EDUCATION
2010 MFA in Painting/Printmaking, Yale University School of Art, New Haven, CT
2008 BA in Painting and Graphic Design, Jackson State University, Jackson, MS

RESIDENCIES
University New Haven - Seton Gallery, New Haven, CT 2016
Artspace, New Haven, CT “Summer Apprenticeship Program,” New Haven, CT 2012
Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center, Jackson, MS 2002-2003

SOLO/TWO MAN EXHIBITIONS
2021
“The Things That Haunt Me Still” Real Art Ways, Main Gallery, Hartford, CT
2016
“Whereabouts Unknown” works by Felandus Thames, University of New Haven,
Seton Gallery, New Haven CT
2014
“stuck between lizabeth Taylor's toes” School of Liberal Arts Gallery
Jackson State University, Jackson, MS
“Spook” Gallery 1 - Jackson State University, Jackson, MS
2013
“built environments, Inaugurations” works by Felandus Thames and Derek Fordjour
Curated by Rich Blint, Columbia University, Russ Berrie Medical Science Pavilion, New
York, NY
2012
“Mixtape,” Jenkins Johnson Gallery, New York, NY
2011
“Utropia,” Tilton Gallery, New York, NY
2008
"Works by Felandus Thames," Southside Gallery, Oxford, MS
2003
"Here & There," Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center, Jackson, MS
2001
"Missing," Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center, Jackson, MS
ART FAIRS/SPECIAL PROJECTS
2020
Prizm Art Fair, Galerie Myrtis, (online)
2018
Prizm Art Fair, Miami, FL
2016
Prizm Art Fair, Miami, FL
2012
Art Miami, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, Miami, FL
artMRKT San Francisco, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Art Platform - LA, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Texas Contemporary, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, Houston, TX
Art Basel, Robert & Tilton, Basel, Switzerland
2011
Art Basel Miami, Robert & Tilton, Miami, FL
Art Miami, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, Miami, FL
Art Platform - Los Angeles, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
artMRKT San Francisco Art Fair, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Art Hamptons, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY
2010
Miami Basel, Robert & Tilton Gallery, Miami, FL
2008
Prospect 1, Lemieux Galleries (alternative space exhibition), New Orleans, LA

GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021 “The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse,”
Curated by Valerie Cassel Oliver, Houston Contemporary Art Museum,
Houston, TX*
“Black Lives Matters,” Curated By Victoria Mann, 193 Gallery, Paris, FR (October)*
“Literary Muse,” Curated by Myrtis Bedolla, UTA Artist Space, Beverly Hills, CA
(September)
“Somethin To Say,” Curated by Keyjo Lee and Felandus Thames, Galerie Myrtis,
Baltimore, MD (September 17, 2021)
“The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse,”
Curated by Valerie Cassel Oliver, Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond, VA
“Unapologetic Conversations of Hair and Nonconformity,” Curated by Tia Santana,
The Delaware Contemporary, Wilmington DE
“On The Road: Chocolate Cities,” Curated by Larry Ossei-Mensah, Tone HQ,
Memphis,TN
2020 “Black Abstraction,” Heather James Fine Art, Palm Desert, CA
“Racism: The Other America Pandemic,” Curated by Yulia Tikhonova,
Online exhibition, Easton, CT
“Renaissance Noir,” Curated by Myrtis Bedolla, UTA Artist Space, Beverly Hills, CA
“The View from Here,” Curated by Sarah Fritchie, Artspace, New Haven, CT
2019
“New Symphony of Time,” Curated by Dr. Roger Ward and Elizabeth Abston,
Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS
“Blackface: A Reclamation of Beauty, Power and Narrative,” Curated by Myrtis Bedolla
and Jessica Stafford Davis, Baltimore, MD
“Unruly Bodies,” Curated by Aden Weisel, Stevenson University, Owings Mills, MD
“Spring Selections” Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2018
“Black Pulp,” Curated by William Villalongo and Mark T. Gibson, African American
Museum of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
2017
“Black Pulp,” Curated by William Villalongo and Mark T. Gibson, Zilkha Gallery at
Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
“Black Pulp,” Curated by William Villalongo and Mark T. Gibson, Contemporary Art
Museum - University of South Florida Tampa, FL
2016
“Black Pulp,” Curated by William Villalongo and Mark T. Gibson, International Print
Center, New York, NY
“Arresting Patterns: Race and the Criminal Justice System,” Curated by Sarah Fritchey
African American Museum of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
“Black Pulp,” Curated by William Villalongo and Mark T. Gibson, Yale University -
Edgewood Gallery, New Haven, CT
2015
“Conversation II,” Curated by Laura Marsh, No Pop Gallery,
New Haven, CT
“Well Worn Truths,” Curated by Benjamin Hickey and Vitus Shell,
Masur Museum of Art, Monroe, LA
“Art By Choice,” Curated by Caitlin Podas and Steven Chevalier,
Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS
“Flood,” Curated by Inger Price, The Community Memorial Museum of Sutter County,
Yurba City, CA
“POP UP SHOW,” Curated by Renee Cox, ARTIZ Group, New York, NY
2014
“Perception, Illusion, Magic,” Curated by Juried by Elizabeth Koehn and Julia Mechtler,
Westport Art Center, Westport, CT
“Pop Up Show,” Curated by David West, Mississippi Museum of Art,
Jackson, MS
2013
“Art By Choice,” Curated by Dan Piersol and Beth Baton, Mississippi Museum of Art,
Jackson, MS
“Visions of Our 44th President,” Essence Festival 2013, New Orleans, LA
2012
“Visions of Our 44th President,” Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History,
Detroit, MI
“Artists by Artists” Curated by David Lambert and Robin Dietrick, Mississippi
Museum of Art, Jackson, MS
“Get It on the Record,” Curated by Yulia Tikhonova, Caldwell College - Visceglia Gallery,
Caldwell, NJ
“Photography Now,” Jenkins Johnson Gallery, New York, NY
"All In Line," Adam Baumgold Gallery, New York, NY
"Face To Face," Adam Baumgold Gallery, New York, NY
“Voices of Home,” Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, CA
“Winter Salon,” Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, CA
“Voices of Home,” Jenkins Johnson Gallery, New York, NY
2011
“Art By Choice,” Curated by Dan Piersol & Beth Baton, Mississippi Museum of Art,
Jackson, MS
“Uncommon Commencement,” Heather James Fine Art, Palm Desert, CA
“T_XT_RT,” Curated by Courtney Johnson, Jenkins Johnson Gallery
New York, NY
“Celebrate Summer,” Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, CA
“The Black Portrait,” Curated by Hank Willis Thomas and Natasha L. Logan,
Rush Art Gallery, New York, NY
“Guy Show,” Curated by Gerald Saladyga, Art Place, Fairfield, CT
2010
“Uncommon Commencement,” Heather James Fine Art, Jackson, WY
“Else,” Curated by Derrick Adams & Jack Tilton, Tilton Gallery, New York, NY
“Art Crush,” Aspen Museum of Art, Aspen, CO
“American Iconography,” Adam Baumgold Gallery, New York, NY
“Gathering Together,” Kravets | Wehby Gallery, New York, NY
“Yale M.F.A Thesis Show,” Yale University/Green Hall Gallery, New Haven, CT
2009
“Yale Second Year Comprehensive Show,” Yale University, New Haven, CT
“Summer Group Show,” Lemieux Galleries, New Orleans, LA
“Yale Peer Show,” Yale University/Green Hall Gallery, New Haven, CT
2008
“100 Hundred Years of Richard Wright," National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis, TN
“The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Relationships and Love," Walker's Point Center for the
Arts, Milwaukee, WI
2007
"Winter Group Show," Southside Gallery, Oxford, MS
"Fall Group Show" Attic Gallery, Vicksburg, MS
"Signs," Attic Gallery, Vicksburg, MS
"Black History Group Exhibition," Southside Gallery, Oxford, MS
2006
"Southern Kaleidoscope," Attic Gallery, Vicksburg, MS
"35th Anniversary Show," Attic Gallery, Vicksburg, MS
"Kitchen," The Attic Gallery, Vicksburg, MS
2005
"Windows," Annual Theme Show, The Attic Gallery, Vicksburg, MS
2003
"Emerge," Municipal Art Gallery, Jackson, MS
“Mississippi Collegian Competition” (Juried), Meridian Museum of Art
"Highway 61" Annual Theme Show, The Attic Gallery, Vicksburg, MS
2002
"Self Portrait Show," Gallery 119, Jackson, MS
2001
“Mississippi Collegian Competition” (Juried), Mississippi Museum of Art

AWARDS
Yale School of Art - Scholarship 2009-2010
Mississippi Arts Commission - Grant 2007
Mississippi Arts Commission - Individual Artist Fellowship 2005
Greater Jackson Arts Council - Individual Artist Fellowship 2003
Mississippi Collegiate Art Competition - Best in Category 2003
Greater Jackson Arts Council - Travel Grant 2002
ARTIST TALKS/PANEL DISCUSSIONS
2021 UTA Artist Space - “Literary Muse,” walk thru with exhibiting artist
moderated by Arthur Lewis and Myrtis Bedolla
Hook Art / Kavi Gupta Gallery - “Know Your Place: An examination of America’s Caste
System” online panel discussion with Wesley Clark, Michi Meko, Shelia Prebright,
Shanequa Gay, and Felandus Thames moderated by Alfred Conteh
Real Art Ways - “The Things That Haunt Me Still” panel discussion with Kiese Laymon,
Charlie Braxton, and Felandus Thames moderated by Noel Anderson
2020 UTA Artist Space Online - “Renaissance Noir,” panel discussion with exhibiting artist
and moderated by Arthur Lewis
2018 Grace Farms Foundation - New Caanan, CT, “Practicing Joy” - Lecture
“Humor as Resistance”
Monclair University - Monclair, NJ, Visiting Lecture, “Perceptual Drawing”
Monclair University - Monclair, NJ, Visiting Lecture, “Color Theory in Practice”
Mississippi Museum of Art, “Race and Abstraction” panel discussion with
Torkwase Dyson, Shelia Prebright, LeRonn Brooks, and Felandus Thames
2017 Rhode Island School of Design - Providence, RI, Artist Talk
2016 University of New Haven - Seton Gallery
2014 Jackson State University - School of Liberal Arts, Jackson, MS, conversation
2012 Jenkins Johnson Gallery - New York, NY, gallery conversation with Halima Taha
Conversation Among Friends - Museum of Modern Art, NYC - Studio Visit/Talk
Junior Associates - Museum of Modern Art, NYC - Studio Visit/Talk

PUBLIC COMMISSIONS
2003 Portrait, Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children
2003 Public Art, City of Jackson, Mississippi Office of the Mayor
2001 Portrait, Jackson Medical Mall Foundation

NOTABLE COLLECTIONS
Aspen Museum of Art
Studio Museum of Harlem
Duke Ellington School of The Arts
Mississippi Museum of Art
The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
Smith - Robertson Museum and Cultural Center
Hort Family Collection
AC and Thelma Hudgins Family Collection
Anthony Terrana
Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African - American Art
Christy and Bill Gautreaux Family Collection
Bernard Lumpkin and Carmine D. Boccuzzi Family Collection
Connie and Jack Tilton Family Collection

TEACHING
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI 2017 - Present
Assistant Professor | Critic
Graduate Printmaking II: Curatorial & Critical Topics and Practices
Graduate Printmaking IV: Critical Topics and Practices
Yale University, New Haven, CT 2010
Teacher’s Assistant | Assistant Chair Samuel Messer
Intro to Drawing

BIBLIOGRAPHY
● “Exclusive: Dionne Warwick On joining Twitter To Put A ‘Grownup’ In The Room”
Essence Magazine, online, mention, September 8, 2021
● Artsy Curatorial, “5 Artist on Our Radar This September,” Arty.net September, 01, 2021
(photos and mention)
● Cassel Oliver, Valerie “The Dirty South, Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the
Sonic Impulse,” exhibition catalogue, (image on page 259, mention on pages 19, 194,
271) August 2021
● Adam, Georgina, “Joy Simmons: ‘Supporting young artists is more important than
collecting a big name’” Financial Times, online July, 24, 2021 (mention and photo)
● Smith, TK “A Cosmos Of Southern Black Expression: ‘The Dirty South’ At The Virginia
Museum Of Fine Arts,” Art in America, online July 20,2021(mention)
● “Dr. V. Joy Simmons’ Los Angeles is ‘a place of possibility’” Frieze Magazine, online
video & article July, 23, 2021 (image)
● “Felandus Thames | Summer Reading List,” Connecticut Art Review, June 17, 2021
(online)
● Sarpong, June, “June Sarpong on the Power of Black Art and Visual Storytelling,” Vanity
Fair, online article, May 25, 2021 (mention)
● Tobey, Annie, "The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and Sonic Impulse,"
May 21, 2021, Richmond, VA, Online Publication (mention)
● Gleisner, Jacquelyn, “Studio Visit, Felandus Thames” Connecticut Art Review, online
article, March 29, 2021(review with quotes and photos)
● Lewis, Martha Willette, “Live Culture with Martha Willette Lewis Radio, ‘The Things That
Haunt Me Still,’” Radio Interview, February 27, 2021
● Spiller, Hortense, “Apocalypse Now and Then,” The A-Line: a journal of progressive
thought, Image, Summer/2020, New York, NY, Online Publication
● ArtNet.com, “A Dozen Black Artist explore the Triumphs and Tribulations of Life in
America in a New Online Exhibition” 06/17/2020, Article & Images
● “On View: ‘Renaissance Noir’ Curated by Mytis Bedolla at UTA Artist Space”
● Niwa, Rae, “Renaissance Noir | A Virtual Exhibition at UTA Artist Space” Flaunt
Magazine Online, 06/12/2020, Article & Image
● Radillo, Annie, "Artspace exhibition molds to socially-distanced present," Yale Daily
News, New Haven, CT, 4/02/2020, Article
● ArtDaily.com, “New Symphony of Time” 9/30/2019, Photo
● Ramsey, Ark, “Not Even Anywhere,” The A-Line: a journal of progressive thought,
Image, Fall/2019, New York, NY, Online Publication
● Lucas, Sherry, “New Symphony of Time,” Numbers: Inc, Memphis, TN, 10/2019, Issue
101, Article
● Warnock, Sarah, “New Symphony of Time,” Clarion Ledger, Online edition, 9/12/2019,
Photo
● Smith, Charles, “Provocative, inspiring: Artist garners international attention,” The
Jacksonian Magazine, March 2019, Article
● Salisbury, Stephan, “'Black Pulp!' at the African American Museum shows art from Black
Panther comics and other stereotype-shattering works,” The Philadelphia Inquirer,
Online edition, February 7, 2018, article
● Rapa, Patrick, “Black Pulp! Collects 100+ Years of Black Art” Philly Magazine
(online version), Philadelphia, PA, 2/01/2018, Article
● Yale School of Art, “Black Pulp!” Canelli Printing, New Haven, CT, Images page 19 and
56, 2016, Exhibition Catalogue
● Paint By Number, Image, 7/2016, London, UK, Online Publication & Print
● Gellman, Lucy, "UNH Gets A Prison Cell," New Haven Independent, New Haven, CT,
2/22/2016, Exhibition Review
● Tabin, Sara, "Art exhibit explores incarceration," Yale Daily News, New Haven, CT,
2/16/ 2016, Exhibition Review
● Lindo, Dayna, "UNH Seton Gallery Debuts Spring 2016 Exhibit," New Haven, CT,
New Haven Corral, 2/16/2016, Article
● Krul, Karina, "Whereabouts Unknown Opens at Seton Gallery," Charger Bulletin
(University of New Haven), New Haven, CT, 2/10/2016, Article
● Dunne, Susan, "Benton, Bruce, Yale Host Black History Month Exhibits, "Hartford
Courant, Hartford, CT, 2/6/2016, Exhibition Review
● Archer, Beatrix, "Pulp fiction" The Yale Herald, New Haven, CT, 2/06/2016, Article
● Childs, Adrienne L., “Imagining Obama, America’s first black president heralded an
explosion of art depicting him—and new possibilities to visualize the commander in
chief.” Politico Magazine, January/February 2016, Article
● Steadman, Ryan, "Can You Fight Racism With a Paintbrush? This Show Says ‘Yes’"
New Haven Observer, New Haven, CT, 1/18/2016, Article
● Stannard, Ed, "New Haven exhibit celebrates ‘strong, vital energy’ of blacks,"
New Haven, CT, New Haven Register, 1/16/2016, Exhibition Review
● Cummings, Mike,"Yale School of Art exhibit explores the ‘pulp’ challenge to racial
injustice” Yale News, New Haven, CT, 1/11/2016, Article
● Lee, Samuel, “Exhibition spotlights black visual culture,” Yale Daily News, 1/20/2016,
Article
● Wheeloch, Stefan, “Barbaric Culture and Black Critique: Black Antislavery Writers,
Religion, and the Slaveholding Atlantic,” University of Virginia Press, 12/ 2015,
Book Cover
● Park-Huntington, Yumi, “Mississippi Homecoming,” International Review of African
American Art, December 2014, Exhibition Review
● Park-Huntington, Yumi, Numbers, INC Magazine, November 2014, "Stuck Between
lizabeth Taylor's toes," Exhibition Review
● Mott, Ronni, “Felandus Thames: Creating Questions” Jackson Free Press, Jackson, MS,
September, 2014, Article
● “On Exhibit - History and Logic Racial Taxonomy,” The Record, Vol. 38, NO. 11 Summer
2013, Columbia University, New York, NY, Article and Image page 3
● Benderson, Bruce, “Journal d’un goujat Minorités” Tetu, Issue 182.04, November 2012,
Interview
● International Review of African American Art, Issue 24.1, (June 2012), Multiple images
and mentions
● Shiner, Eric, “Roving Eye: Pictures of People, One Significantly Missing Artist” Art in
America, (04/22/2011), Online Review
● Veric, Charlie, “Techniques of the Face: An Essay on Everyday Embodiment,
Representation, and Consciousness,” Yale University, 2011, Book
● “A Gathering of the Tribes,” issue #13. March 2011, Image
● “Pride and passion: Cool Stuff,” The Times-Picayune, February 17, 2011, Online/Printed
Edition, image and quote
● Veric, Charlie, “Infinite Slips: Racial Passage in Recent Works by Felandus Thames,”
e-misférica – New York University, New York, NY January 2011, Article
● Cotter, Holland, “Else,” New York Times - Art in Review, New York, NY, September 24,
2010, Review
● Cotter, Holland, “Gathering Together,” New York Times - Art in Review, New York, NY,
June 18, 2010, Review
● Atkins, Roy, “Felandus’s Core” Jackson Free Press, Jackson, MS, November 28, 2007,
Article
● Warner, Mary, “The Burden that is Art,” Oxford Town Newspaper, Oxford, MS, February
22, 2007, Exhibition Review
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Contributor, 2006, Book
● Lucas, Sherry, “Artists ‘Emerge’ at Municipal Art Gallery” Clarion-Ledger June 10, 2003,
Article
● Lucas, Sherry, “Artists ‘From dust and death rises Art” Clarion-Ledger October 1, 2002,
Article
● Lucas, Sherry, “Felandus Thames puts a fresh face on Portraits” Clarion-Ledger, April
28, 2002, Article