Theaster Gates

Regen Projects, Los Angeles

Acquired from the above in 2017 by the present owner

“The art isn’t about art. The art is about deep belief in the power of human beings to make each other better, that we might all become our better selves.”- Theaster Gates 

Raised in Chicago, Theaster Gates has been deeply inspired by his community there as well as other urban communities. A ceramic worker by training, then having studied urban planning at Iowa State University, it is no wonder that Gates has such a socially charged and uniquely expansive oeuvre. Though Gates rejects categorizing his work as a means of social upheaval, through his choice of media and array of artistic practices, including sculpture, ceramics, performance art, and film, one cannot avoid the impact with which his work delivers.

In the present work, Partial Eclipse with Electrical Polarity, the media used and the almost Abstract Expressionist composition speaks to the magnitude of meaning in the work. Throughout his practice, he often works with found materials from different neighborhoods with which he engages, highlighting the community’s past, present and future that are inexplicably intertwined. Theaster Gates’ father was a roofer, working primarily with tar, who taught Gates how to work with his hands. When his father passed, Gates inherited his tar kettle, a token for the future. This work features expressive strokes of tar, relating his past work with his father, and connecting them to each other through this series, while also bringing new meaning to the expressive gestures of the historical Abstract Expressionist movement. By reinvigorating the movement, with rich social commentary and family history through his choice of media, Theaster Gates allows the viewer to think more deeply, with his subtle associations.