Theaster Gates
Theaster Gates
Theaster Gatesis an American Social Practice installation artist. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, where he still lives and works. Gates' work has been shown at major museums and galleries internationally and deals with issues of urban planning, religious space, and craft. He is committed to the revitalization of poor neighborhoods through combining urban planning and art practices...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionArtist
CountryUnited States of America
art framing life longer practicing
I actually no longer use 'art' as the framing device. I think I'm just kind of practicing things, practicing life, practicing creation.
cold dip experience
My first experience with the creative was mopping tar. If you let the tar sit, it can get cold pretty quickly. And because the mops are so heavy, you've got to dip it and then ride it really fast.
art challenged current imagine objects point related
I sometimes am challenged to imagine where the timbre of art should be. Should it be about objects that point to this current moment, or how objects are related to ideas of this current moment?
art decided interest series vehicle
There were a series of moments when I decided that art was important, and it was an important vehicle for me to express my interest in spaces.
raw
Everything is raw material to me. Land is raw material... I take one form and transform it into other forms.
great imagine limit understanding
If we imagine that the only right that we have is to make commodifiable objects, then we limit our practice, and we limit the great potential for an understanding between collectors, curators and galleries.
spend time
I want to spend my time between the creation of ideas and the creation of things.
against constantly dynamic either engaged opportunity people reconcile
The reality in the neighborhood that I live in is: if I don't constantly reconcile what I have against what other people don't, either I need to leave and be around other people who have what I have, or I'm constantly engaged in this kind of dynamic flow of opportunity and sharing.
thinking opportunity willingness
I have the willingness to think fully about where opportunities are and where they live.
thinking allowing
I think I'm passionately allowing myself to be influenced by the things that are around me.
ethics modernism
Modernism was influenced by what they call a primativist ethic.
practice kind solemnity
All kinds of performance practices have a certain register of power or solemnity.
years space people
It's really exciting to know that people want to use the house as a house and want to live there although it hasn't been a used, occupied space in 50 or 60 years.
art thinking museums
The fact that the work is affirmed by the Museum of Contemporary Art I think sends continued signals that this is worth paying attention to, looking at, and understanding.