Untitled I, c. 2006
Theaster Gates was born in 1973 in Chicago, Illinois. He earned a B.S. in Urban Planning and Ceramics from Iowa State University in 1996 and then received an M.A. in Fine Art and Religious Studies from the University of Cape Town. Gates is the founder and director of the Rebuild Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to redeveloping low-income communities through artistic and cultural projects such as the Stony Island Arts Bank and the Dorchester Art + Housing Collaborative.
Gates is a full professor in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Chicago and serves as Senior Advisor for Cultural Innovation. He has exhibited and performed extensively in the US and abroad and received numerous awards including the Nasher Prize for Sculpture and the J.C Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development. In 2018, he was selected to be the Artist-in-Residence at the Getty Research Institute. Gates is represented by Gagosian Gallery.
Gates is a full professor in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Chicago and serves as Senior Advisor for Cultural Innovation. He has exhibited and performed extensively in the US and abroad and received numerous awards including the Nasher Prize for Sculpture and the J.C Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development. In 2018, he was selected to be the Artist-in-Residence at the Getty Research Institute. Gates is represented by Gagosian Gallery.