A Week in the Life of Theaster Gates

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Day 1: In his Grand Crossing studio, sitting on a swing he crafted from discarded doors.
Photo: Chris Strong
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Day 1: The artist stands in his studio among the ephemera he has collected.
Photo: Chris Strong
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Day 1: Gates in his studio, a former Anheuser-Busch distribution facility in Grand Crossing.
Photo: Chris Strong
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Day 1: Standing in front of wooden blocks (right) repurposed from his 2012 installation at the prestigious international contemporary art fair Documenta 13.
Photo: Chris Strong
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Day 1: Gates and Shirin Shahin in the woodshop of the new University of Chicago Arts Incubator in Washington Park
Photo: Chris Strong
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Day 1: Gates gives a lecture at the University of Chicago.
Photo: Chris Strong
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Day 1: Gates gives a lecture at the University of Chicago.
Photo: Chris Strong
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Day 1: Gates meets with French ambassador Fabrice Rozie and University of Chicago staff
Photo: Chris Strong
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Day 2: The artist at the Quadrangle Club on the U. of C. campus before a meeting.
Photo: Chris Strong
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Day 2: Inside the Quadrangle Club, the faculty club at U. of C.
Photo: Chris Strong
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Day 3: (top) Gates in his studio with the Chicago-based contemporary artist Eliza Myrie; (bottom) The artist showing bound volumes of old Jet magazines, donated by Johnson Publishing Co.
Photo: Chris Strong
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Day 3: Gates meeting with Museum of Contemporary Art curators that evening.
Photo: Chris Strong
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Day 3: Bound volumes of old Ebony magazines, donated by Johnson Publishing Co.
Photo: Chris Strong
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Day 3: Gates at rehearsal with the Chicago singer/songwriter Khari Lemuel, who is a member of the artist’s Black Monks of Mississippi performance group
Photo: Chris Strong
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Day 4: A film plays at Black Cinema House while Gates’s team of architects meets about an upcoming project.
Photo: Chris Strong
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Day 4: The architecture meeting.
Photo: Chris Strong
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Day 4: ABC-7 reporter Karen Jordan interviews Gates for a segment on Black Cinema House.
Photo: Chris Strong
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Day 4: The artist in his bedroom.
Photo: Chris Strong
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Day 5: Michelle Boone, Chicago’s commissioner of cultural affairs and special events, looks on as Gates speaks at the March 8 opening of the University of Chicago Arts Incubator, 301 E. Garfield Blvd.
Photo: Chris Strong
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Day 5: WBEZ interviews Gates at the opening of the Arts Incubator
Photo: Chris Strong

The rising art star led a tour of his life and work as he prepared for his first major solo exhibition in Chicago, set to open May 18 at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Also: Read the accompanying story.

May 7, 2013, 11:04 am

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