About Gavin Coates

Gavin Coates is a multidisciplinary artist, musician, curator, and gallery founder born in Wiesbaden, Germany and based in Columbia, Maryland. His work spans painting, drawing, music, curation, writing, photography, and digital media.

Coates is the founder of the Naturalist Gallery of Contemporary Art, where he serves as Head of Curation and Editor-in-Chief. He is also the creator of 99 Coats, an independent music project developed through songwriting, recording, production, visual art, and filmmaking.

Across these projects, Coates builds large, interconnected bodies of work rather than approaching each painting, song, exhibition, or publication as an isolated object. His practice frequently examines nature, memory, perception, transformation, human behavior, and the relationship between individual experience and larger systems.

Visual Art

Coates began developing a public visual-art practice through drawing, painting, commissions, publications, and group exhibitions. His work includes landscapes, figurative paintings, portraits, conceptual compositions, and mixed-media works.

His paintings and drawings have been exhibited in the United States, Canada, Germany, and Taiwan. Major presentations include the Chelsea International Art Competition at Agora Gallery in New York, Art Revolution Taipei at the Taipei World Trade Center, and the Human Nature exhibition at Colors of Humanity Art Gallery in Pennsylvania.

His painting Chess Players received a Noteworthy Mention in the Human Nature exhibition. His work has also appeared through Art on the Terrace, The Art Parlor, Biafarin, Gallerium, Artistonish Magazine, and international online exhibitions.

In addition to exhibiting, Coates has completed private commissions in oil, acrylic, graphite, ink, chalk pastel, clothing design, album artwork, custom footwear, and painted objects.

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Naturalist Gallery of Contemporary Art

Coates founded the Naturalist Gallery of Contemporary Art in 2023. The gallery was created to provide artists with accessible opportunities for professional presentation, curatorial review, publication, and international visibility.

As Head of Curation and Editor-in-Chief, Coates oversees exhibition development, artist selection, editorial programming, collection organization, and the gallery’s broader curatorial direction.

The gallery presents themed exhibitions and collections featuring artists working across a broad range of contemporary visual media. Its online format allows artists and audiences from different regions to participate without the geographic limitations of a traditional physical gallery.

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[Why was Naturalist Gallery created? →]

99 Coats

99 Coats is the independent music project created by Gavin Coates. The project encompasses songwriting, performance, production, recording, visual direction, cover artwork, music videos, and long-form catalog development.

The music has moved through alternative rock, indie rock, post-punk, electronic music, pop, and other styles. Rather than limiting 99 Coats to one fixed genre, Coates treats each album and recording period as part of an evolving musical practice.

He writes and records primarily in Ableton Live, developing songs through repeated experimentation with lyrics, melodies, arrangements, instruments, samples, and production techniques. The project was built privately over an extended period before Coates began placing greater emphasis on public promotion, live performance, music videos, and audience development.

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[What is 99 Coats? →]

[How are 99 Coats songs recorded? →]

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Creative Approach

Coates’ work is defined by sustained output and interdisciplinary development. Painting informs the visual identity of his music, songwriting influences his approach to narrative, and curating provides a broader view of how individual works operate within larger cultural and artistic contexts.

Rather than separating these activities into unrelated careers, he approaches them as parts of one practice. A gallery exhibition, album, painting, video, or written article may use a different medium, but each contributes to a larger body of work concerned with how people interpret the world around them.

Selected Exhibitions

• 2023 — Chelsea International Art Competition, Agora Gallery, New York

• 2023 — Art Revolution Taipei, Taipei World Trade Center, Taipei, Taiwan

• 2023 — Human Nature, Colors of Humanity Art Gallery, Pennsylvania

• 2022 — Blue, Art on the Terrace, Staten Island, New York

• 2022 — Artful City, Art on the Terrace, Staten Island, New York

• 2022 — Untitled Works, Art on the Terrace, Staten Island, New York

• 2022 — Stay Frosty, Art on the Terrace, Staten Island, New York

• 2022 — Emotions, Biafarin Canadian Exhibition

• 2022 — Gallerium Art Prize, Canadian online exhibition

• 2021 — Memento Mori, The Art Parlor, Frenchtown, New Jersey

• 2020 — Online exhibition organized by George Sili, Germany

Awards and Recognition

• Noteworthy Mention, Human Nature, Colors of Humanity Art Gallery, 2023

• Independent Artists Grant, Howard Community College, 2019

Based in Maryland

Coates currently works from Columbia, Maryland. His studio practice includes visual art, music production, writing, curatorial work, and the continued development of Naturalist Gallery and 99 Coats.

Explore the Work

• [99 Coats]

• [Paintings]

• [Naturalist Gallery]

• [Complete Biography]

• [Artist CV]

• [Contact]