Year: 2012
Medium: reclaimed wood
Dimensions: 113 x 77.5 x 10.2 cm (44 1/2 x 30 1/2 x 4 in.)
Acquired from Phillips, 2023
Gates continues to pursue projects that practically address social issues within specific communities, as seen in series like the “Ground Rules” series and “Thrones”. In particular, one of Gates’s noteworthy activities is his commitment to the South Side community in Chicago, where racial and poverty disparities and unstable public security are significant issues. He purchases local real estate and uses the materials obtained from abandoned houses to create and sell artworks. The profits made from the sale of artwork are returned to the local community by maintaining the inexpensive housing, artists' activity space, and community space. As inferred from the title, this work was probably created by collecting flooring and other materials from those abandoned houses and reconstructing them into a striped tableau. The presence of green and white paint that has stuck onto the work and its severely rough surface indicate that the work has gone through quite many seasons. When facing this work which seems to have an extremely decent appearance of abstract expressionism at first glance, one should not be satisfied with the superficial pleasure. It is because this work is created from the accumulation of countless lives that once walked on it in the past, this solemn fact is before one’s eyes. However, the sentiment itself will not bring about social change. If art can demonstrate commitment to society in a region of a capitalist country, it will be through the realization of exchange between capital for artworks, and most importantly, through the strong will and action of the artist to return that capital back into the local community. Gates is one of the rare artists who truly understands the structure of the contemporary art market, including the gallery system and how to exercise its power. Thus, his work has both social significance and monetary value because of the high ideals he upholds. In other words, Gates’s work is the totality of a series of socially practical projects conducted with an awareness of the urban planning perspective and economic perspective of art. They represent the realization of a new public nature that does not rely on centralized authority.
