Roofing Exercise

The monotony of Roofing Exercise, a huge canvas covered in black paint, is broken by thick, uneven streaks of tar running across it horizontally and vertically. Their light-trapping materiality gives the two-dimensional support relief and depth. 

Theaster Gates' art is an expression of his civil rights activism, denouncing the inequality and injustice that plague American society. This work is in a more intimate vein while maintaining the coherence of his refined aesthetics. The technique and materials directly refer to his father's former profession as a roofer. The work belongs to a series of similar large pieces. Its composition and the effects of its materials recall the manner of Pierre Soulages or lyrical abstract expressionism. 

Roofing Exercise will be exhibited for the first time by the Pinault Collection during the “Au-delà de la couleur” ("Beyond Colour") show at the Couvent des Jacobins in Rennes in June 2020.