1944-Present
Works in the Collection
No works found.
Biography
Charles Gaines (b. 1944) is a conceptual artist whose work spans drawing, photography, installation, and sculpture. His practice explores the tensions between objectivity and subjectivity, often engaging both conceptual and political themes shaped by his experiences with racism in the art world during the 1970s.
Born in Charleston, South Carolina, and raised in Newark, New Jersey, Gaines earned a B.A. from Jersey City State College in 1966. He was the first Black student in the M.F.A. program at the Rochester Institute of Technology, graduating in 1967. He has taught at California State University, Fresno, and has been on the faculty at the California Institute of the Arts since 1989.
Gaines has exhibited at major institutions including the Whitney Biennial and The Studio Museum in Harlem. Gaines has published essays on race and art criticism and was awarded the Edward MacDowell Medal in 2019. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and holds an honorary doctorate from RIT. His work is in major collections including MoMA, the Whitney, LACMA, SFMOMA, and Tate. Gaines lives and works in Los Angeles.