Pottery and Other Stories by Theaster Gates

When in 1928 the Japanese philosopher Yanagi Sōetsu theorized the theoretical and aesthetic proposal of Mingei - what we now define as popular or folk Japanese art and craftsmanship - his aim was to demonstrate that beauty could be found in ordinary and utilitarian everyday objects made by unknown and unnamed artisans, as opposed to the higher art forms created by named artists. This theme greatly fascinated the American artist Theaster Gates who in this exhibition at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo appropriated the Japanese concept to reinterpret it in a new "black" key in an original experiment of cross-cultural contamination between two worlds very distant from each other and with the aim of bringing out an art centered on black beauty and aesthetics. Theaster Gates masterfully translates the complexities of darkness through clay, objectivity, space and materiality. While black culture and history remain relatively little known to Japanese audiences, this exhibition aims to convey the contemporary importance of art that celebrates craftsmanship, issues of race, politics and cultural hybridity by offering a comprehensive overview of Gates' practice.