ARTIST STATEMENT

I am interested in our relationship to the ready-made and how they can
become surrogates for their user's ethnology and gender.  My work
attempts to transcend didacticisms that are typically associated with
anachronistic understandings of representation and instead aligns
itself with ideas around the taxonomy of human difference. I am also
interested in the interplay between the personal narrative and the
imagined. And I use humor, increasingly important to the work, as it
allows the viewer to ease into disconcerting motifs. Because I wish to
make objects that have a life beyond that of my initial intent, the
work-often probing and unsettling-poses questions rather than answers
them. It shifts the beholder's role from voyeur to participant, and
complicates my personal relationship to the work.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

Born in 1974 - Jackson, Mississippi

Lives and works in New York

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

2001 & 2004 Tougaloo Art Colony, Tougaloo College

RESIDENCIES

2002-2003      Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center, Jackson, MS

SOLO/TWO MAN EXHIBITIONS

2012    "MIXTAPE,” Jenkins Johnson Gallery, New York, NY 

2011    "Utropeia,” 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

2012    artMRKT San Francisco, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, 
            San Francisco, CA
2011    Art Miami, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, Miami, FL
            Miami Basel, Robert & Tilton 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

2012    “Artists by Artists” Curated by David Lambert and Robin Dietrick
            Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS
            “Visions of Our 44th President,” Charles H. Wright Museum of African
            American History, Detroit, MI
            “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
            "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

           "Uncommon Commencement," Heather James Fine Art, 
             Palm Desert, CA 

            "Yale M.F.A Thesis Show," Yale University/Green Hall Gallery, 

             New Haven, CT 

2009    "Yale 2nd 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     Prospect 1, Lemieux Galleries (alternative space exhibition), 
             New Orleans, LA
            "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, Curated by Felandus Thames         
            Jackson, MS

           “Mississippi Collegian Competition” (Juried), Meridian Museum of Art
            Jackson, MS

           "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, Jackson, MS

AWARDS/HONORS

2009-2010 Scholarship, Yale School of Art

2007     Grant, Mississippi Arts Commission

2005     Individual Artist Fellowship, Mississippi Arts Commission

2003     Individual Artist Fellowship, Greater Jackson Arts Council

2003     Best in Category, Mississippi Collegian Art Competition

2002     Travel Grant, Greater Jackson Arts Council

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

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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

“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, Review

Cambell, Sarah, “Seen Through Our Eyes,” Headerman Brothers Press, Jackson, MS, 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