Gates joins ideas of labor, function, and property with aesthetic and art historical concerns.
Theaster Gates
Theaster Gates and the Shapes of Black History
Gates reminds us of the many hidden, unacknowledged, and under-recognized histories of Black culture in America.
Theaster Gates’s Emotional Confrontation With Racism
With Black Chapel, Gates references the racism embedded in modernism’s failure to adequately acknowledge non-white sources of inspiration.
The Gazebo Where Tamir Rice Was Killed Is Rebuilt as a Memorial in Chicago
Samaria Rice has partnered with artist Theaster Gates to rebuild the gazebo as a temporary meeting place for those affected by racially motivated killings and police brutality.
Theaster Gates Makes Visible the Hidden Layers of Cities
The collection of never-before-showcased objects materialize the underpinnings of urban livelihoods: commerce, culture, ancestry, trauma, which, particularly for Black Americans, are inextricably entwined.
How W.E.B. Du Bois Meticulously Visualized 20th-Century Black America
The Pan-African scholar’s data visualizations about Black American progress after Emancipation have been compiled, for the first time, as a book.
In Paintings and Ceramics, Theaster Gates Salvages Charged Materials
In his new show at Regen Projects, Gates showcases paintings based on data visualizations by W.E.B. Du Bois and ceramic sculptures that reinterpret iconic forms.
Best of 2016: Our Top 15 Exhibitions Around the World
Our picks for the best art shows in the world this year.
Saying Goodbye to Tamir Rice’s Gazebo
CLEVELAND — Shingle by shingle, a crew of workers began the three-day process of taking apart the gazebo at the Cudell Recreation Center where sixth grader Tamir Rice was shot and killed by police within two seconds of their arrival.
Theaster Gates Contemplates What Creates and Destroys Communities
MILAN — Following the major economic crises in Europe and the US, political art has become increasingly visible in those parts of the world. At the same time, it’s become increasingly difficult to ignore questions about the art’s actual effectiveness.
Four Public Art Projects from LA to Albany Get Grants of Up to $1M
On Tuesday Bloomberg Philanthropies named Gary, Indiana, Los Angeles, Spartanburg, South Carolina, and the New York cities of Albany, Schenectady, and Troy as the recipients of its inaugural Public Art Challenge grants.
Theaster Gates Meditates on Construction in a White Cube
LONDON — Theaster Gates’s latest show at White Cube is, surprisingly, largely limited to paintings and sculptures.