Theaster Gates (b. 1973). Radical Prioritizing: 1840s Style, 2010. Porcelain, 24 karat gold leaf, glaze, and steel. 67 x... (Total: 5 Items)

Description

Theaster Gates (b. 1973)
Radical Prioritizing: 1840s Style, 2010
Porcelain, 24 karat gold leaf, glaze, and steel
67 x 24 x 2 inches (170.2 x 61.0 x 5.1 cm)

PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF DEONE JACKMAN, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

PROVENANCE:
The artist;
Acquired by the present owner from the above, 2011.

EXHIBITED:
Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, Illinois, "Not Just Another Pretty Face," November 20, 2010-February 27, 2011.

Theaster Gates is an internationally renowned American artist who blends social practice, performance and sculpture with a keen interest in urban planning and preservation. Gates has exhibited widely throughout the world at major galleries, museums and art fairs. Much of his physical work involves reclaiming objects no longer in use, such as decommissioned fire hoses and other abandoned materials, and elevating these materials into sculptures with symbolic importance. He is the recipient of many distinguished awards, including the Artes Mundi 6 prize and the Legion d'Honneur in 2017, the Nasher Prize for Sculpture in 2018, and the Urban Land Institute J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development. Gates lives in Chicago where he also serves as Professor of Visual Arts at the University of Chicago.

Radical Prioritizing: 1840s Style was commissioned for "Not Just Another Pretty Face" (the 4th edition of a project at the Hyde Park Arts Center in Chicago) by Deone Jackman and Eugene Goldwasser, patrons of the arts and benefactors of the Center. Jackman and Goldwasser were close to Gates. Goldwasser, a University of Chicago biochemist, passed away in 2010, and this lot is offered from the Estate of Deone Jackman, who died in 2018.

Among the many artist residencies that Gates has lived in, is a community in Kohler, Wisconsin, a town famous for manufacturing porcelain bath fixtures. This industrial presence allowed Gates to further explore the cultural history of the "labor village." Radical Prioritizing: 1840s Style exemplifies Gates' Kohler-inspired series of shallow porcelain sinks with gold-plated drains mounted on the wall. Here, he divorces the sinks from their traditional function and turns them into Duchampian "Readymades," perhaps even calling attention to the craftsmen who made them.

In his artist's statement for the exhibition catalog Not Just Another Pretty Face (Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, Illinois, 2010), Gates wrote:
"Sometimes, it's challenging to consider other people in the processor creating, knowing that they may not be excited by what excites you. I really have to invest in the process and get my [patrons] to also invest in the process, and let the object be a by-product of time well spent. Not Just Another Pretty Face has been an opportunity to combine my interest in making with my sense of the personalities of people who are dear to me... It is a really challenging opportunity... Deone and Gene have been supporters of my work from early in my career. Their conversations and generosity are part of what has given me the opportunities that I have. The process is another act of friendship between us."


More information about Theaster Gates Artist.



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