Shaunté Gates

Washington, D.C.-based artist Shaunté Gates’ solo exhibition features a survey of mixed-media paintings that investigate race, class, and psychogeographical spaces. Gates’ densely layered works 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 draws on his experience as a video editor and motion graphic artist in television to explore human nature and societal manipulation through mass media. His figures — taken from portraits of his friends and family members adorned with talismanic headdresses and branded symbols — navigate chaotic, stage-like environments filled with historical fragments, pop culture, and mythological references. Influenced by social theorists like Guy Debord (The Society of the Spectacle) and Joseph Campbell (The Power of Myth), Gates probes the narratives that shape identity and society.

In his series, The Land of Myth, Gates pulls from memories of growing up in close-knit communities during the 1980s in and around Washington, D.C.’s public housing projects. Using images of Barry Farms, Langston Terrace, and Lincoln Heights, he reimagines their architecture as "semi-ruined temples," embodying resilience amidst systemic neglect. These sites become metaphors for the constructs of race, class, and the policies impacting marginalized communities, transformed into mythological landscapes. Figures often appear as animal-like or mythic entities, navigating complex terrains that reflect both personal and collective experiences.

Through fragmentation and layering, Gates conveys the dualities of identity, memory, and history. His work confronts systemic oppression while celebrating personal transformation and collective resilience. By reimagining urban spaces as loci of both decay and renewal, Gates crafts socially charged narratives that situate his protagonists at the intersection of beauty and chaos.

Biography

Shaunté Gates is based in Washington, D.C., where he was born and raised. Gates is trained in oil painting, and prior to his recent works, he produced representational portraits. Gates’ past experience as a tattoo artist and television editor with BET Networks greatly informs his practice. He is a participating artist in Smithsonian Institution’s Men of Change four-year (2019-2022) traveling exhibition, which spans 10 museums, including California African American Museum, Cincinnati Underground Railroad Museum, and Washington State History Museum. Gates has work in esteemed private collections, as well as an acquisition by the Studio Museum in Harlem’s Collection. He has many public art commissions from schools throughout D.C., including Transcending, a painting commemorating the 140th anniversary of Howard University School of Law.

Header Image
The Four Huntresses II, 2023 (detail)
Acrylic, photo, pulled paper, colored pencil, charcoal and ink collage on wood panel
24 × 48 × 3 inches
Courtesy of the artist and Sperone Westwater Gallery, New York