Quote:
Originally Posted by marothisu
On another note, I don't know how many of you guys follow Theaster Gates but I'm starting to learn more about him.
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Theaster Gates is a city treasure and doesn't get the publicity or the respect he deserves. His work frequently focuses on civil rights themes and most of it is created out of items they've reclaimed from the renovated buildings in grand crossing. Even if you see the pieces on the other side of the world, they feel very "Chicago". As a person, he seems very hardworking, thoughtful, pragmatic and intellectually adventurous; almost like the spirit of Chicago personified.
The neighborhood renovation in grand crossing is amazing. Every downtrodden city or area tries to build an "artist community" which is more or less step 1 of a gentrification process. Grand crossing doesn't really follow this model. There are renovations and new businesses following the group into the the neighborhood, but they are converting entire buildings to archives and works of art; essentially things that cannot be removed or upgraded without destroying what made the community special.
This story is a good profile of Gates.
http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Ma...ticle=0#artanc
More or less, Gates is sort of Chicago's Andy Warhol right now. He's creating great art and building a place that is unique in the world.
One of my favorite works of his is "Raising Goliath" where the weight of an old fire truck (like those used in the south during the civil rights era) is raised off the floor by a counterweight of Johnson publishing (ebony/jet) works and fire hoses