Theaster Gates transforms still life into sculptural meditation
A new exhibition at White Cube Seoul unveils Gates's expanded ceramic works, where objects become vessels for sound, memory and the transformation wrought by time.
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The still life has long been a conversation between the artist and the inanimate world, a moment of pause where objects reveal their inner lives through arrangement and light. Theaster Gates approaches this most classical of genres as a departure point for something altogether more expansive, where ceramics become a language for exploring the relationship between the material, the sonic and the self.
His forthcoming exhibition at White Cube Seoul ventures into new sculptural territory. The works on view navigate an expanded understanding of still life’s visual conventions, yet move beyond the canvas into three dimensions where form, surface and presence create their own visual grammar. Gates describes his practice here as an advanced strategy for drawing, a structure of homage and, most evocatively, the fossilisation of life transformed by death. These are not objects arranged for aesthetic pleasure alone; they are vessels laden with meaning, each surface and contour a meditation on memory, loss and the enduring power of what remains.
The artist’s work has long situated itself at the intersection of craft, history and spirituality. His sculptural ceramic paintings extend this inquiry, inviting viewers to consider how we commemorate, how we hold what we cherish, and how transformation through time reshapes our understanding of the material world. The surfaces speak of his hand, of repetition and ritual, of the labour that infuses each work with presence and gravitas.
What makes this body of work particularly compelling is its refusal of sentimentality. Gates approaches his subjects with intellectual rigour and formal sophistication, yet the works remain deeply felt, deeply human. The relationship between objects and sound, between the visual and the auditory, suggests a synesthetic experience where viewers are invited to sense the work through multiple registers at once.
The exhibition runs concurrently with another significant presentation of the artist’s work, creating a moment where his practice can be seen across multiple contexts and scales. This dual presentation underscores the breadth of his investigation and the generative power of his vision at this particular moment.
Imagery courtesy of White Cube (@whitecube).
