Theaster Gates and other 2023 Noguchi award winners reflect on his influence

Theaster Gates and his fellow cohort of 2023 Isamu Noguchi Award winners recently gave an interview to Art Basel’s online publication in order to provide depth and detail as to the aspects of the storied artist's work that has propelled them creatively in their various endeavors.  The 49-year-old pioneer of social practice expanded on comments he made after the announcement, where he called the Award “one of the highest honors I could receive.” He pointed to a lecture given by Martin Puryear at the Art Institute of Chicago as sparking his interest in Noguchi, before quipping that Noguchi's designs, much like his own work, offered the world "excellent craftsmanship; values rooted in animistic philosophies that understand that the spiritual life within things should be respected and protected; and a conviction that the public deserves exceptionally made things. “What moved me so deeply was that Noguchi was not afraid to scale ideas and the language of his work was rooted between natur...