Theaster Gates, ‘The Duet’, 2023 

Theaster Gates, The Duet, 2023.

Bronze, patina with clay finish. Presented by White Cube

About the Work

Together titled The Duet, Bronze Vessel 1 (Strike) and Bronze Vessel 2 (Double Mooring) herald an important new direction for Theaster Gates. These bronze pieces stand nearly ten feet high and represent the first time Gates has created vessels on this scale and in this medium. In these works, Gates honours the legacy of ceramics, evoking a time when property lines were demarcated by stone or clay discs, and graves were plotted with ceramic vessels. Here, bronze preserves the personal and spiritual significance of clay, protecting the layered histories of the material. Gates employs his deep knowledge of ceramics ‘to speak to the possibility that the vessel has the ability to hold the psychic and engender the monumental’. With this new language, Gates uses his ceramic knowledge and practice as the basis for larger and more ambitious architecture.

Bronze Vessel 1 (Strike) is an elegant structure with a vertical elevation and sculptural form that pushes the boundaries of the traditional ‘vessel’ whilst drawing on affinities between Eastern, Western and African ceramic traditions. In this work, Gates makes connections between ancient art and the modernist aesthetics of twentieth-century sculptors such as Constantin Brancusi and Isamu Noguchi.

Bronze Vessel 2 (Double Mooring) takes its form from a ceramic vessel by Gates from a series exploring the shapes of mooring bollards (the structures on quaysides that ships are tied up to). Gates’s fascination with these everyday nautical forms arises from the mooring’s function of literally ‘holding’ the ship while figuratively also ‘holding’ the rope – with the bollard as an anthropomorphized figure. In this new bronze sculpture, the double mooring represents both a double cross and a double hold. 

About the Artist

Theaster Gates (b. 1973, Chicago; lives and works in Chicago, USA) has had clay as a focal point of his practice since studying pottery in Tokoname, Japan, in the early 2000s. His work includes sculpture, installation, performance, urban intervention and land development. Through his work as an artist, archivist and curator, Gates instigates the creation of cultural communities by acting as catalysts for social engagement that leads to political and spatial change.

Gates is a professor at the University of Chicago in the Department of Visual Arts and serves as the Special Advisor to the President for Arts Initiatives. His recent solo exhibitions include New Museum, New York (2022); Serpentine Pavilion, London (2022); Frederick Kiesler Foundation, Vienna, (2022); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2021); Victoria & Albert Museum, London (2021); TANK Shanghai (2021); Prada Rhong Zhai, Shanghai (2021); Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta (2020); and Tate Liverpool, UK (2020). Gates has participated in the 18th International Architecture Biennale, Venice (2023); Sharjah Biennial 15, UAE (2023); 14th Istanbul Biennial (2015); 56th Venice Biennale (2015); and dOCUMENTA 13, Kassel, Germany (2012).

Gates is the recipient of numerous awards and honorary degrees including the Isamu Noguchi Award (2023); Friedrich Kiesler Prize for Architecture and Art (2021); the Royal Institute of British Architects (2021); the World Economic Forum Crystal Award (2020); J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development (2018); Nasher Sculpture Prize (2018); Sprengel Museum Kurt Schwitters Prize (2017); and Artes Mundi 6 prize (2015). In April 2018 Gates was appointed the first distinguished visiting artist and Director of Artist Initiatives at the Lunder Institute for American Art, Colby College, Waterville, Maine. He was the visiting artist in residence at the American Academy in Rome (2020); and was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2021. 

Frieze Sculpture is in The Regent’s Park, 18 September – 27 October 2024. No booking required, free to all. 

explore frieze sculpture

Further Information 

Frieze Sculpture runs alongside Frieze London and Frieze Masters, 9 – 13 October.

Tickets to the fairs are on sale – buy yours now. Alternatively, become a member to enjoy premier access, exclusive guided tours and more.

BUY NOW

To keep up to date on all the latest news from Frieze, sign up to the newsletter at frieze.com, and follow @friezeofficial on Instagram, X and Frieze Official on Facebook.

Digital Guide

Bloomberg Connects is the Official Digital Guide to Frieze Sculpture. The Bloomberg Connects app offers exclusive content including audio guides by Fatos Üstek, Curator of Frieze Sculpture, and the exhibiting artists. To access the Official Digital Guide, search for Bloomberg Connects on Apple Store and Google Play.

^{Main image: Theaster Gates, Bronze Vessel 2 (Double Mooring), 2023. Bronze and patina with clay finish, 269.2 x 91.4 x 80.0 cm. © Theaster Gates. Photo © Walla Walla Foundry. Courtesy White Cube}