Jeff Gates

JEFF GATES is an artist and writer interested in the intersection of art and American culture. He is the founder of the Chamomile Tea Party, where he's created over 230 posters on the sorry state of American political discourse. In 2018, Google Arts & Culture published a seven-part online exhibition of this work, allowing Gates to create a visual history of American politics from the Tea Party's rise to the effects of Donald Trump's presidency. Public engagement is an essential aspect of Gates' work. And, he has incorporated several online communities as part of his projects. In 1999, concerned about online privacy, he was the first artist to use eBay as an art form, auctioning his personal demographics to the highest bidder. After 9/11, he created the online site, "Dichotomy: It Was a Matter of Time and Place," where people posted their experiences that day from two perspectives: those affected directly by the attacks and those who witnessed the events via the media. And, in 2008, much to the chagrin of his most ardent supporters, he tweeted his root canal live to a group of dentists across North America. In the early 1990s, Gates formed Artists for a Better Image (ArtFBI) to study artist stereotypes in contemporary culture. He published a history of these stereotypes and collected artist depictions from film and TV, using them to talk with artists about their place in American society. Gates also organized a symposium to discuss how artists could connect with their communities. And, as a way of engaging with the public, he produced series of bumper stickers about artists. Gates taught college photography and computer graphics for 23 years before becoming Lead Producer of New Media Initiatives at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. He has written and talked about social media's effect on organizational change. And, in 2005, Gates launched the Smithsonian's first blog, Eye Level. His writing and art have appeared in The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and The Nation. He is the author of the book Uneventful: The Rise of Photography, exploring the evolution of photography from the 19th to 21st centuries. He now focuses his time on his art and writing full time. In Our Path is his project website and other projects can be found at Outta Context.