Lot 12
  • 12

THEASTER GATES | A Flag For The Least of Them

Estimate
450,000 - 500,000 USD
Log in to view results
bidding is closed

Description

  • Theaster Gates
  • A Flag For The Least of Them
  • decommissioned fire hose
  • 59 7/8 by 84 5/8 in. 152 by 215 cm.
  • Executed in 2018.

Condition

This work is in excellent condition overall. All elements appear secure and well intact. The fire hose shows signs of wear, fading and age, all of which are consistent with the artist's intention and choice of medium. There is evidence of a few, unobtrusive surface accretions which are also consistent with the artist's intention and choice of medium. Unframed.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

A Flag For The Least of Them is part of Theaster Gates Civil Rights Tapestries series, which are made from colorful strips of decommissioned fire hose, that are tonally arranged and stitched together. Reflecting Gates's interest in the poetics of re-purposed and salvaged materials, the series was originally influenced by a darker chapter in American history and the events of the 1963 riots in Birmingham, Alabama when water cannons were used against civil rights demonstrators. A number of works from this series were shown in Gates's 2012 exhibition at White Cube Bermondsey, entitled My Labor Is My Protest.

The deep burgundy strips of fire hose in A Flag For The Least of Them are affixed to a wooden board, and formed into a linear, geometric pattern. The colors vary subtly in shade, presenting a wealth of histories and uses, but the finished, formal composition of Gates’ painting presents itself as a new flag for those who are not represented by the official American flag. Rendered devoid of the medium’s original function and instead presented for visual consideration, A Flag For The Least of Them references both the language of the readymade, and the aesthetic of 1960s abstract American painting.

In Lisa Yun Lee's essay, Everything and the Burden is Beautiful, written for Gates's 2015 Phaidon publication, Lee aptly describes the duality of the Civil Rights series: "A signature of Gates's works is his ability to embrace the hybridity of cultural signifiers, thereby ensuring that no single set of meanings is exhausted. He moves between the powerful historical referent that is often part of the weightiness of black history, and a formal reference that is more often than not part of a mostly white art history. Through this interchange, the two become inextricable braided, complicit with one another." (pg. 56)