Artist's Statement

no 'nother country

Curator's Statement

by Theaster Gates

Truth is in the water; thick, Mississippi water. For those who have not forgotten her, she offers a particular kind of reflection and when that water mixes with the challenges of the black contemporary, a work emerges that not only allows for transformative experiences, it creates a transformational practice. I have watched Mitchell Squire's practice invoke a depth of clarity that both informs his sense of self and allows him escape from all the formalisms that keep artists loaded with the burden of particular histories. Mitchell's desire to engage the black imaginary has been evident throughout his strident career as an architect and now, there's no need for hyphens. The ability to deliver questions around the American narrative and dig deeper into the things that have no name, need no representational admonitions and most certainly fight quietly, give us a great opportunity to see work that is not overly sympathetic to "THE CAUSE," but implicates us all, as viewers, as believers and skeptics.

In many ways, Mitchell's practice has informed the work that I make. While attending school at Iowa State University, Mitchell was the only Black faculty member in the College of Design. This is not uncommon in design programs, but this truth combined with the tremendous intellectual openness and shared interests were launching points for deep mentorship. Mitchell's keen sense of design, his thorough engagement with the history of Architecture and willingness to generate a dialog between Architecture and other forms of political engagement including race and space, made me question the my own disciplinary engagement, which at the time, was Urban Planning. Critical generosity deserves recompense!

This project has given Mitchell and I an opportunity to talk again as friends and artists who are both asking questions about what's at stake. To share a side of Mississippi that moves past cotton fields, casinos and heat into the waxing of thoughts and merging of belief systems alongside other more "formal" systems. From Annunciation of Jack Trice, a work that evokes the black athlete, fighting, not only for acceptance, but the right to be most excellent, alongside other works including Target, moving us back and forth from the anticipated narrative to the interrupted narrative, Mitchell moves comfortably through the world of story and makes harmonies from this country's disparities. Mitchell is willing to engage Power in ways that allow us into a conversation about the value of histories, the right to speak and the way we are.

Artist's Bio

Mitchell Squire is an installation artist, sculptor and performance artist based in Iowa. He is primarily known for his work that explores culture through collected artifacts. He historicizes the performative aspects of objects through strategies of association and the incorporation of provocative materials including human hair, candy, and athletic tape, in an attempt to tease out the presence of complex structures of desire. In 2010, Squire was the recipient of the Midwest Voices and Vision award, administered by the Alliance of Artists Communities and funded by The Joyce Foundation, and the Camille Hanks Cosby Fellowship to participate in the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. A nationally recognized educator in the field of architecture, his published works include the poetic treatise "Paris Done Burnt!" in White Papers, Black Marks: Architecture, Race and Culture (2000), and the object collection "cultureWARE: Implements of Desire; or EAT THIS!" in Eating Architecture (2004). He is currently an Associate Professor of Architecture and holds both Bachelor and Master of Architecture degrees from Iowa State University. Squire's exhibition at CUE Art Foundation marks his first solo show in New York City. 

Curator's Bio

Multidisciplinary artist Theaster Gates works to realize the potential of urban spaces through performance, installation, and engagement. His interventions in institutions and organizations, incubators and collectives, and around kitchen tables and stoops heighten our awareness of the simple and modest places in which culture and place making occur. As Gates creates convergences between the old and new and the formal and informal, he hopes to produce middle zones where the resources of large institutions can be activated alongside a community's own cultural capital. Formal training in urban planning, ceramics, fine art, and religious studies have given Gates insight into the poetics of production and its role in shaping culture, which allows him to gather seemingly disparate people, ideas, and entities toward mutual goals. Gates's commitment to cultural restoration in under-resourced communities is rooted in a belief that contemporary art practices do not have to be seen only in the rarified activity of major museums in order to contribute to a city's vibrant culture. This conviction allows him to focus on creating local centers for culture that make room for a neighborhood's traditions to thrive as new rituals are created.

Gates's work has been exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art; Seattle Art Museum; Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago, IL; Milwaukee Art Museum; Boots Contemporary, St. Louis, MO; and the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, St. Louis, MO, among others. Gates is Director of Arts and Public Life and Artist and Residence at the University of Chicago.

Virtual Tour

Take a virtual tour of the exhibition!