• The Real-Estate Artist (The New Yorker)
• Five Things to Know About Theaster Gates (Tate Modern)
• How to revive a neighborhood (Gates’ TED Talk)

Last month, we got notice of the price hike on Apple’s streaming service and went in looking to see if there was anything to watch before we cancel. After bingeing the series “Drops of God,” (which I enjoyed mostly for the language and settings) I decided to rewatch the best thing I’d seen in the two years we had it, which was season 1 episode 2 of the show “Home,” featuring Chicago urban-planner/preservationist/artist Theaster Gates. It was even more inspiring than I had remembered. Gates is an artist to his core and brings immense style and intellect to everything he does — and wow, what he does. The episode is only 34 minutes but every frame and building and story bears pausing on, rewatching, investigating further. So if you’re subscribed or also canceling, watch that asap! (I’ve also included some links above for you to explore.)

“Home” is a good series, far from a simple decor show, and while there I also watched the excellent Casa de Carla y Pedro episode (S2E2), the promo image for which popped out at me because their highly memorable handmade home is featured in the book Bibliostyle, which I spent a lot of time with last year while all my own books were in boxes. Their house can also be seen here.

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Among other things, both Gates and the Reyes-Fernandez family have literally turned their homes and/or buildings into libraries, to share the wealth, as it were. Which reminds me, I saw this article yesterday about the hot new TikTok trend/term: bookshelf wealth (NYT Gift Link). As much as I roll my eyes at TikTok trend pieces, this one included, after so many years of books being widely considered “clutter” and stylists turning them around backwards in photos, I’m happy to see books being prized, in whatever context.

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[ IMAGE : Publicity still of Theaster Gates from the Apple+ series “Home” ]