Theaster Gates

Theaster Gates
Gates in 2013
Born (1973-08-28) August 28, 1973 (age 51)
Known forInstallation art, Sculpture
Notable workCivil Tapestry series (2011-ongoing)
Black Vessel for a Saint (2017)
MovementSocial practice, Urbanism
WebsiteTheasterGates.com

Theaster Gates (born August 28, 1973) is an American social practice installation artist and a professor in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Chicago.[1] He was born in Chicago, Illinois, where he still lives and works.[2]

Gates' work has been shown at major museums and galleries internationally and deals with urban planning, religious space, and craft. He works to revitalize underserved neighborhoods by combining urban planning and art practices.[3] Gates' art practice responds to disinvestment in African-American urban communities, particularly in the wake of the financial crisis of 2007–2008, addresses the importance of formal archives for remembering and valuing Black cultural forms, and disrupts artistic canons, especially those of post-painterly abstraction and color field painting.

  1. ^ "Theaster Gates | Harris Public Policy". harris.uchicago.edu. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  2. ^ "'Clay feels perverse' – Theaster Gates on working on Obama's library and going back to pottery". TheGuardian.com. October 21, 2021.
  3. ^ Moore, Natalie. "How Theaster Gates Is Revitalizing Chicago's South Side, One Vacant Building at a Time". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved September 8, 2020.