For the 2022 edition of Art Basel at Messe Basel in Basel, Switzerland, GRAY presents in the fair’s Galleries and Unlimited sectors.
At Art Basel Unlimited, GRAY exhibits Hardware Store Painting (2021-2022) by Theaster Gates. First conceived in 2021, Gates’s large-scale installation originates from the artist’s ongoing engagement with a family-owned hardware store formerly located on Chicago’s South Side. Gates, whose practice is deeply invested in the material preservation of neglected social and cultural histories, acquired the store and all of its merchandise in 2014. Through material and conceptual interpositions, Gates memorializes the history of a changing urban landscape, and offers a repository and material testimony to a bygone era. Amassing and repurposing what physical inventory remained from the store, Gates’s monumental construction exposes the aesthetic potential of utilitarian items to be fundamentally didactic, carrying with them the legacy of the everyday worker and shopkeeper even after the objects themselves become cast aside or obsolete.
GRAY, founded in 1963, is located in Chicago and New York. The gallery is known internationally for Modern and contemporary art, representing some of the most significant artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Gallery clients include museums, private institutions and top collectors worldwide. GRAY participates at Art Basel in Basel, Art Basel in Miami Beach, Art Basel in Hong Kong, Art Busan, EXPO Chicago, Frieze New York, and ADAA's The Art Show.
For press inquiries, please contact Rebecca Daniel Mottley, rdm@richardgraygallery.com.