Theaster Gates Named 2018 Nasher Prize Winner

by Glasstire September 19, 2017
Theaster Gates

Theaster Gates

Tonight the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas announced the winner of the 2018 Nasher Prize: acclaimed American artist Theaster Gates.

The Nasher Prize, which is $100,000, is now in its third year. It is, via the Nasher “…the most ambitious international award in sculpture, established to honor a living artist who elevates the understanding of sculpture and its possibilities.” French artist Pierre Huyghe won last year, and Columbian artist Doris Salcedo was the winner for the Prize’s inaugural year.

Each year the Nasher reveals the winner to the public at a gathering at the Rachofskys’ private collection space The Warehouse, in Dallas.

Theaster Gates was born in Chicago in 1973, and is mainly based there; many of his most acclaimed projects have also been based in Chicago.

Via the Nasher: “Theaster Gates has expanded the definition of a sculptor through critical investigations of art history, memory, and materiality. Earning a B.S. from Iowa State University in ceramics and urban planning, Gates began his art career as a potter. He fuses a traditional sculptural training with materials that reify, archive, and memorialize the black American experience.” 

Each year the jury gathers in London to discuss the nominees and pick a winner. Jurors for this year’s Prize were: Phyllida Barlow, artist; Huma Bhabha, artist; Pablo León de la Barra, Guggenheim Curator at Large, Latin America; Lynne Cooke, Senior Curator, National Gallery of Art; Okwui Enwezor, Director, Haus der Kunst; Yuko Hasegawa, Chief Curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (MOT); Hou Hanru, Artistic Director, MAXXI, Rome; Alexander Potts, art historian; and Sir Nicholas Serota, Chair of the Arts Council England.

“Gates will be presented with an award designed by Renzo Piano, architect of the Nasher Sculpture Center, at a ceremony in Dallas on April 7, 2018.”

For more info on Theaster Gates and the Nasher Prize, please go here.

Gates' Dorchester Projects

Gates’ Dorchester Projects

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