Professor Gates has earned international acclaim for a practice that traverses multiple media and genres, primarily focusing on sculpture and ceramics but also encompassing architecture, music, performance, fashion and design. Trained as a sculptor and urban planner, Gates has been influenced by Japanese craft and culture over the past 20 years. He first traveled to in 2004 Japan to study ceramics in Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture. His deep encounters in Japan and across the Asia-Pacific, coupled with his experiences as an African-American man with roots in Mississippi and Chicago have been the keystones of his creative process. Gates, who has explored cultural hybridity over the course of his practice, coined the term “Afro-Mingei,” his unique conceptual framework fusing the philosophies of the Japanese Mingei Movement and the aesthetics of the “Black Is Beautiful” cultural movement that played a significant part in the American Civil Rights Movement (1954-1968). Theaster Gates: Afro-Mingei was Gates’ first solo exhibition in Japan and largest-ever in Asia, with the speculative proposition of “Afro-Mingei” placed as the central backbone of the presentation. This exhibition showcased major bodies of existing and never-before-seen work that demonstrate the influence of Japanese culture on his practice.