Art

Theaster Gates turns discarded objects into art – The Economist

Published

4 years ago

October 8, 2020

IN 2012 THEASTER GATES shipped a cargo of construction materials from a dilapidated house on the South Side of Chicago to the German city of Kassel. He had been invited to exhibit at Documenta, a city-wide art show held there every five years. In Kassel Mr Gates had come upon Huguenot House, a run-down hotel built by migrants and named after the French Protestants who fled abroad in the 17th and 18th centuries. Once people had sought refuge in the building’s cellar, but it had been abandoned since the second world war. He was fascinated by parallels between the Huguenots who made a new home in Germany and the African-Americans who travelled north to Chicago during the great migration of the mid-20th century. He asked to take over the whole building.

Mr Gates and his team exposed torn wallpaper and stripped away plaster. They filled one of the disused rooms with staircases to nowhere, made wall hangings out of mattress ticking and a shoeshine stand from old floorboards. (Those stands feature a lot in Mr Gates’s installations: at openings he often asks his well-heeled collectors to polish visitors’ shoes.) The project, entitled “12 Ballads for Huguenot House”, became one of Documenta’s biggest draws, with Mr Gates’s music ensemble, Black Monks of Mississippi, playing ballads that blended Zen chanting with slave spirituals. “You know we had Kassel rocking,” he remembers. “It became an extremely electric place.”

The artist’s postbox began to fill up with invitations from other European curators, intrigued by the way he trawled through African-American history to create conceptual artworks about memory and music. These led to solo exhibitions in Switzerland, Sweden, Austria, France and Britain. But not in America, where he featured only in group shows.

“I think that [in] the US we can be quite provincial,” Mr Gates comments. But there may have been another reason. In his home country, where he studied urban planning, he is best known for something else. In 2006 he moved to the South Side and bought a former sweetshop, aided by a loan from his mother and a subprime mortgage. Ever since, he has been scooping up condemned buildings and transforming them into vibrant culture centres, with libraries, studios and space for meetings, exhibitions and performance—in a part of Chicago that is 93% African-American and notoriously short of such places.

He coaxed the University of Chicago to spend $2m on an arts hub in the neighbourhood. He persuaded Rahm Emanuel, then the mayor, to sell him the Stony Island State Savings Bank, boarded up but owned by the city, for a dollar—plus a promise that Mr Gates would raise the money to turn it into an arts venue. In 2013 he cut 100 marble slabs from the building, inscribed them with the words “In Art We Trust”, and sold them for $5,000 each at Art Basel as if they were bonds.

These days Mr Gates owns or manages more than a dozen buildings in Chicago. “Every morning I check on fences, make sure the grass is mowed,” he says. “If it’s rained I check there are no major leaks. I’m a landlord.”

Through the roof

That is Mr Gates the social entrepreneur. But America is about to learn more about Mr Gates the artist, thanks to a major new show that opens at Gagosian in New York on October 10th. As his centres in Chicago closed when covid-19 took hold in the spring, Mr Gates retreated to his studio. He spent a month cleaning assiduously, “to help me cope with the anxiety”. Then came the killing of George Floyd and the nationwide protests against racial injustice. His advice to white Americans who want to help improve race relations is eminently practical: “If you really want to help, get some black friends, marry a black man. The number of white people I know who don’t have one real black friend, it’s scary. It blows my mind that we live such racially distanced lives.”

Lockdown helped him hone his ideas for the Gagosian show. Called “Black Vessel”, it is a tribute to family life (an only son, Mr Gates has eight older sisters), maternal love and manual labour. His father was a roofer, and this exhibition, based on clay and roofing materials, will be his “origin story”, he explains. “It’s about homage to my dad,” but also about the transfer of “a skill and a way of making from one generation to another”. The elder Gates did not want his son to be a roofer; that is why he sent him to college. “The show says a lot about the potential within blackness, the potential within labour, the potential between—in this case—a father and a son to transfer and do better.”

Some of the work harks back to the years he spent making pottery in America and Japan. In 2007, at a series of dinners in Chicago, he memorably served up soul food on plates that he crafted, supposedly in honour of a Japanese potter named Shoji Yamaguchi, who turned out not to exist. His new pots will fill one room at the gallery.

A second will display his “roofing” sculptures: slabs of rubberised roofing from some of Mr Gates’s building projects, coated with tar and painted in industrial colours (tile red, terracotta and blueish-green). These recall the work of Robert Rauschenberg or Alberto Burri, an innovative Italian painter and sculptor who took up working with plastic, blowtorches and sacking after he was released from a POW camp in Texas. Prices for Mr Gates’s ceramics will start at $200,000, and for the roofing sculptures at $500,000—far above his previous auction prices, but a sign of his growing following and of soaring demand for African-American artists.

But the showstopper, and the real “Black Vessel”, will be the large main gallery, which Mr Gates is lining entirely with special bricks from a factory in South Carolina. Whenever the plant switches from, say, making red bricks to blue ones, the offcuts produced during the transition are thrown away. Some of these were saved for him, and fired black. They are symbols of Mr Gates’s artistic and civic interests: the salvage and repurposing of discarded black artefacts. It will transform Gagosian into “an empty black sanctuary”, which, in a difficult year, “feels really, really good”. ■

^{“Theaster Gates: Black Vessel” will be at Gagosian, 555 West 24th St, New York, from October 10th}

This article appeared in the Books & arts section of the print edition under the headline “Feats of clay”

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Art

Calvin Lucyshyn: Vancouver Island Art Dealer Faces Fraud Charges After Police Seize Millions in Artwork

Published

2 days ago

September 13, 2024

Harry Miller

In a case that has sent shockwaves through the Vancouver Island art community, a local art dealer has been charged with one count of fraud over $5,000. Calvin Lucyshyn, the former operator of the now-closed Winchester Galleries in Oak Bay, faces the charge after police seized hundreds of artworks, valued in the tens of millions of dollars, from various storage sites in the Greater Victoria area.

Alleged Fraud Scheme

Police allege that Lucyshyn had been taking valuable art from members of the public under the guise of appraising or consigning the pieces for sale, only to cut off all communication with the owners. This investigation began in April 2022, when police received a complaint from an individual who had provided four paintings to Lucyshyn, including three works by renowned British Columbia artist Emily Carr, and had not received any updates on their sale.

Further investigation by the Saanich Police Department revealed that this was not an isolated incident. Detectives found other alleged victims who had similar experiences with Winchester Galleries, leading police to execute search warrants at three separate storage locations across Greater Victoria.

Massive Seizure of Artworks

In what has become one of the largest art fraud investigations in recent Canadian history, authorities seized approximately 1,100 pieces of art, including more than 600 pieces from a storage site in Saanich, over 300 in Langford, and more than 100 in Oak Bay. Some of the more valuable pieces, according to police, were estimated to be worth $85,000 each.

Lucyshyn was arrested on April 21, 2022, but was later released from custody. In May 2024, a fraud charge was formally laid against him.

Artwork Returned, but Some Remain Unclaimed

In a statement released on Monday, the Saanich Police Department confirmed that 1,050 of the seized artworks have been returned to their rightful owners. However, several pieces remain unclaimed, and police continue their efforts to track down the owners of these works.

Court Proceedings Ongoing

The criminal charge against Lucyshyn has not yet been tested in court, and he has publicly stated his intention to defend himself against any pending allegations. His next court appearance is scheduled for September 10, 2024.

Impact on the Local Art Community

The news of Lucyshyn’s alleged fraud has deeply affected Vancouver Island’s art community, particularly collectors, galleries, and artists who may have been impacted by the gallery’s operations. With high-value pieces from artists like Emily Carr involved, the case underscores the vulnerabilities that can exist in art transactions.

For many art collectors, the investigation has raised concerns about the potential for fraud in the art world, particularly when it comes to dealing with private galleries and dealers. The seizure of such a vast collection of artworks has also led to questions about the management and oversight of valuable art pieces, as well as the importance of transparency and trust in the industry.

As the case continues to unfold in court, it will likely serve as a cautionary tale for collectors and galleries alike, highlighting the need for due diligence in the sale and appraisal of high-value artworks.

While much of the seized artwork has been returned, the full scale of the alleged fraud is still being unraveled. Lucyshyn’s upcoming court appearances will be closely watched, not only by the legal community but also by the wider art world, as it navigates the fallout from one of Canada’s most significant art fraud cases in recent memory.

Art collectors and individuals who believe they may have been affected by this case are encouraged to contact the Saanich Police Department to inquire about any unclaimed pieces. Additionally, the case serves as a reminder for anyone involved in high-value art transactions to work with reputable dealers and to keep thorough documentation of all transactions.

As with any investment, whether in art or other ventures, it is crucial to be cautious and informed. Art fraud can devastate personal collections and finances, but by taking steps to verify authenticity, provenance, and the reputation of dealers, collectors can help safeguard their valuable pieces.

Art

Ukrainian sells art in Essex while stuck in a warzone – BBC.com

Published

2 weeks ago

September 2, 2024

Harry Miller

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Ukrainian sells art in Essex while stuck in a warzone BBC.com

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Somerset House Fire: Courtauld Gallery Reopens, Rest of Landmark Closed

Published

4 weeks ago

August 18, 2024

Harry Miller

The Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House has reopened its doors to the public after a fire swept through the historic building in central London. While the gallery has resumed operations, the rest of the iconic site remains closed “until further notice.”

On Saturday, approximately 125 firefighters were called to the scene to battle the blaze, which sent smoke billowing across the city. Fortunately, the fire occurred in a part of the building not housing valuable artworks, and no injuries were reported. Authorities are still investigating the cause of the fire.

Despite the disruption, art lovers queued outside the gallery before it reopened at 10:00 BST on Sunday. One visitor expressed his relief, saying, “I was sad to see the fire, but I’m relieved the art is safe.”

The Clark family, visiting London from Washington state, USA, had a unique perspective on the incident. While sightseeing on the London Eye, they watched as firefighters tackled the flames. Paul Clark, accompanied by his wife Jiorgia and their four children, shared their concern for the safety of the artwork inside Somerset House. “It was sad to see,” Mr. Clark told the BBC. As a fan of Vincent Van Gogh, he was particularly relieved to learn that the painter’s famous Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear had not been affected by the fire.

Blaze in the West Wing

The fire broke out around midday on Saturday in the west wing of Somerset House, a section of the building primarily used for offices and storage. Jonathan Reekie, director of Somerset House Trust, assured the public that “no valuable artefacts or artworks” were located in that part of the building. By Sunday, fire engines were still stationed outside as investigations into the fire’s origin continued.

About Somerset House

Located on the Strand in central London, Somerset House is a prominent arts venue with a rich history dating back to the Georgian era. Built on the site of a former Tudor palace, the complex is known for its iconic courtyard and is home to the Courtauld Gallery. The gallery houses a prestigious collection from the Samuel Courtauld Trust, showcasing masterpieces from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. Among the notable works are pieces by impressionist legends such as Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, and Vincent Van Gogh.

Somerset House regularly hosts cultural exhibitions and public events, including its popular winter ice skating sessions in the courtyard. However, for now, the venue remains partially closed as authorities ensure the safety of the site following the fire.

Art lovers and the Somerset House community can take solace in knowing that the invaluable collection remains unharmed, and the Courtauld Gallery continues to welcome visitors, offering a reprieve amid the disruption.

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