This was the second year that Theaster Gates convened the Black Artists Retreat, a symposium that doesn’t flap about for media attention but rather makes a safe, withdrawn environment outside of formalized institutions for artists of color to speak across ages and career establishment, and to discuss the conditions of their working lives. This year’s retreat coincided with a wonderfully curated two-part exhibition at Richard Gray and Valerie Carberry, which showed compelling ways to pose questions about racial identity in art.
