Shaunté Gates: "This Is Not a Test"
to
Moss Arts Center at Virginia Tech 190 Alumni Mall, Blacksburg, Virginia 24060

The Four Huntresses II, 2023Acrylic, photo, pulled paper, colored pencil, charcoal and ink collage on wood panel24 × 48 × 3 inchesCourtesy of the artist and Sperone Westwater Gallery, New York
Washington, D.C.-based artist Shaunté Gates’ solo exhibition features a survey of mixed-media paintings and densely layered works that combine photography, painting, collage, and found materials, resulting in surreal, dreamlike compositions that merge portraiture, landscape, and architecture.
Trained in traditional painting and portraiture, Gates’ paintings evolved into a mixed and multimedia expression in 2004 when he began working in television as a motion graphics artist and video editor. Working with images and video footage of music artists and television personalities to create show openings and promotional content subtly and organically influenced his paintings, integrating elements of motion and media into his evolving artistic practice.
“The relationship was reciprocal; the painter spirit was feeding the digital work and in turn my paintings,” Gates said. “Aesthetically and thematically, I embraced the contradiction, as the paintings began to explore themes of introspection and the influence of mass media on society. I started to see the works as theatrical. As I did for television, I began photographing and casting images of family and friends as protagonists for my paintings. I take photos and find photos for other cast members and architecture, as well as capturing stills from cinema and video games to collage into these densely layered stage-like settings.”
Extracting from multiple time-based media that include current events, history, and cinema, perhaps paradoxically, somehow untethered from notions of linear time and space; psychogeographical labyrinths or worlds are constructed to be deconstructed into what Gates describes as, “moments that feel to be on the brink of an unconscious truth.”
Thursday, January 23, 4-6 PM | OPENING RECEPTION | Moss Arts Center Grand Lobby | Free
Friday, January 24, 11 AM | ARTIST PANEL | Moss Arts Center Cube | Free
Thursday, February 13 and March 13, 12 PM | BEYOND THE FRAME GALLERY TOURS | Moss Arts Center Grand Lobby | Free