Installation view of Retreat, B.A.R. 2017. Courtesy Ricahrd Gray Gallery.
Installation view of Retreat, B.A.R. 2017. Courtesy Ricahrd Gray Gallery.
Installation view of Retreat, B.A.R. 2017. Courtesy Ricahrd Gray Gallery.
Installation view of Retreat, B.A.R. 2017. Courtesy Ricahrd Gray Gallery.
Installation view of Retreat, B.A.R. 2017. Courtesy Ricahrd Gray Gallery.
Photo: Jasmine Clark
Photo: Jasmine Clark
Photo: Jasmine Clark
Photo: Jasmine Clark
Photo: Jasmine Clark
Photo: Jasmine Clark
Black Artist Retreat 2014. Photo: Sara Pooley
The Black Artists Retreat [B.A.R.] is an annual convening of black visual artists held in Chicago, IL. Initiated by Theaster Gates and Eliza Myrie in 2013, the Retreat brings together black artists working in many forms and those who believe in and support black artists.
The Black Artists Retreat [B.A.R.] was born with the goal of creating time and space for a community to engage outside of the institutional environment. Each year, this artist-led initiative is guided by the tenets of fellowship, rejuvenation, and intellectual rigor. Underwritten by Theaster Gates and Rebuild Foundation, the Retreat is hosted across spaces within the Rebuild ecosystem in Chicago, IL. Guests are invited to think, learn, and party during this moment of evolution and growth.
In October 2019, Gates will host the Black Artists Retreat for the first time outside of Chicago at the Park Avenue Armory in New York.
"The beauty of the proposal of retreating or the creation of the Black Artist Retreat (BAR) is that, at once, it acknowledges both the importance of people and the importance of land. It's a way of recognizing that artists have the ability to unapologetically return to each other."