Theaster Gates

Theaster Gates, Chicago artist: Art & Design: Wmagazine.com: "The first time Theaster Gates showed his work at NADA Miami during Art Basel Miami Beach, in December 2009, he was an unknown artist from Chicago’s South Side. He’d never had formal representation, so when the curator Francesco Bonami invited him to participate in the 2010 Whitney Museum’s Biennial, Gates approached the Chicago gallerist Kavi Gupta for help. The Biennial was three months away, and Gupta thought it wise to “position” Gates in advance of his New York spotlight. So Gupta took shoe-shine stands to Miami that Gates had made using clapboard siding from a building he had restored. . . . once Gates arrived in Miami, he decided on the spur of the moment to animate them. As high-flying patrons wandered through the fair, he invited them to take a seat—and then began shining their shoes. Crowds formed to watch him, and collectors quickly learned his name. The chairs sold out, with the Chicago arts patron Larry Fields paying around $12,000 for one upholstered in red and yellow vinyl. . . . Read more: http://www.wmagazine.com/artdesign/2013/06/theaster-gates-chicago-artist#ixzz2TahfDhLO

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