Theaster Gates is an artist whose practice finds roots in conceptual formalism, sculpture, space theory, land art, and performance. In his work, Gates subverts the politics of value and place through his critical stewardship and redeployment of culturally significant and lesser-known Black objects, collections, legacies, archives, and spaces. Trained as both a sculptor and an urban planner, Gates contends with the notion of Black space as a formal exercise, defined by collective desire, artistic agency, and the tactics of a pragmatist.
Portrait of Theaster Gates at his Chicago studio, 2024. Photo Credit: Lyndon French. Courtesy of Theaster Gates Studio
Theaster Gates is an artist whose practice finds roots in conceptual formalism, sculpture, space theory, land art, and performance. In his work, Gates subverts the politics of value and place through his critical stewardship and redeployment of culturally significant and lesser-known Black objects, collections, legacies, archives, and spaces. Trained as both a sculptor and an urban planner, Gates contends with the notion of Black space as a formal exercise, defined by collective desire, artistic agency, and the tactics of a pragmatist.
Portrait of Theaster Gates at his Chicago studio, 2024. Photo Credit: Lyndon French. Courtesy of Theaster Gates Studio
Theaster Gates is an artist whose practice finds roots in conceptual formalism, sculpture, space theory, land art, and performance. In his work, Gates subverts the politics of value and place through his critical stewardship and redeployment of culturally significant and lesser-known Black objects, collections, legacies, archives, and spaces. Trained as both a sculptor and an urban planner, Gates contends with the notion of Black space as a formal exercise, defined by collective desire, artistic agency, and the tactics of a pragmatist.
Portrait of Theaster Gates at his Chicago studio, 2024. Photo Credit: Lyndon French. Courtesy of Theaster Gates Studio
