Theaster Gates was born in 1973 in Chicago, where he still lives. He has had solo exhibitions at the Seattle Art Museum (2011–12), MOCA, Los Angeles (2011–12), the Milwaukee Art Museum (2010), and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2009). Gates has performed and exhibited at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. (2012), the Whitney Biennial (2010), and the Pulitzer, Saint Louis (2010).