And Other Paintings

The exhibition 'And Other Paintings' at White Cube Paris features new works by Theaster Gates, focusing on his use of industrial materials, particularly tar, to explore formal and sculptural qualities. The show includes a series of 'Tar Paintings' and 'Tar Vessels' that re-examine painting through the lens of industrial processes and modernist abstraction. Gates saturates salvaged roofing materials with enamel, fusing them with a torch, resulting in works with an architectural facture that integrates the material's industrial logic into a painterly syntax.

These works engage with the legacies of modernist abstraction, employing devices like the grid and color field, while also acknowledging the labor and material origins often abstracted in modernist art. Gates draws on his personal history, having learned to tar roofs with his father, viewing this early experience as foundational to his artistic practice. The exhibition also incorporates elements of urban planning and archival imagery, notably from the Johnson Publishing Company's collections, integrating these visual propositions into the tar surfaces. The 'Tar Vessels' are cast in plaster and encased in roofing skins, functioning as gestures of care and preservation.