Artist Biography
Chakaia Booker (b. 1953)
Chakaia Booker is an internationally renowned and widely collected artist known for creating monumental, abstract works from recycled tires and stainless steel for both the gallery and outdoor public spaces. Booker’s works are included in more than 40 permanent collections, including the Mott-Warsh Collection and the Flint Institute of Arts, and they have been exhibited across the US, in Europe, Africa, and Asia.
The artist’s sculptures are constructed of salvaged rubber, primarily old tires, which she cuts into strips and shapes, then wraps and folds the material into a variety of fluid forms. Booker exploits the qualities of the material—the pattern between the layering of metal threads and rubber-gluing agents, the rust-stained wire, the remaining tread, the movement and color—to define the character of each work that also varies depending on the tire’s age, brand and construction design. The surfaces display elegant, yet surprising patterns using hard-edged to organic flowing shapes, employing flat and high-gloss finishes.
Chakaia Booker is a native of Newark, New Jersey. She earned a BFA in sociology from Rutgers University in 1976 and a MFA from the City College of New York in 1993. Her work was exhibited in the Whitney Biennial in 2000, the “Twentieth Century American Sculpture” exhibition at the White House in 1996, and in many group exhibitions in the United States, Japan, and the Netherlands. She is represented in numerous permanent collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; Studio Museum in Harlem, NY; Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, State University of New York, Purchase, NY; Newark Museum, Newark, NJ; the Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI; and of course, the Mott-Warsh Collection, Flint, MI. She currently works in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
The artist’s sculptures are constructed of salvaged rubber, primarily old tires, which she cuts into strips and shapes, then wraps and folds the material into a variety of fluid forms. Booker exploits the qualities of the material—the pattern between the layering of metal threads and rubber-gluing agents, the rust-stained wire, the remaining tread, the movement and color—to define the character of each work that also varies depending on the tire’s age, brand and construction design. The surfaces display elegant, yet surprising patterns using hard-edged to organic flowing shapes, employing flat and high-gloss finishes.
Chakaia Booker is a native of Newark, New Jersey. She earned a BFA in sociology from Rutgers University in 1976 and a MFA from the City College of New York in 1993. Her work was exhibited in the Whitney Biennial in 2000, the “Twentieth Century American Sculpture” exhibition at the White House in 1996, and in many group exhibitions in the United States, Japan, and the Netherlands. She is represented in numerous permanent collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; Studio Museum in Harlem, NY; Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, State University of New York, Purchase, NY; Newark Museum, Newark, NJ; the Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI; and of course, the Mott-Warsh Collection, Flint, MI. She currently works in Allentown, Pennsylvania.