Auspicious Behavior: Chakaia Booker
March 3rd – April 11th, 2020
Sculptor Chakaia Booker fuses ecological concerns with explorations of racial and economic difference, globalization, and gender by recycling discarded tires into complex assemblages. Booker began to integrate discarded construction materials into large, outdoor sculptures in the early 1990s. Tires resonate with her for their versatility and rich range of historical and cultural associations. Booker slices, twists, weaves, and rivets this medium into radically new forms and textures, which easily withstand outdoor environments.
Chakaia Booker (born 1953 Newark, New Jersey) is an internationally renowned and widely collected American sculptor known for creating monumental, abstract works from recycled tires and stainless steel for both the gallery and outdoor public spaces. Booker received a B.A. in Sociology from Rutgers University (1976) and a MFA from the City College of New York (1993). She was selected for the Whitney Biennial in 2000, awarded the Pollock-Krasner Grant in 2002 and received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2005. Select solo exhibitions include: The National Museum of Women in the Arts; Milwaukee Art Museum; The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art; Queens Museum of Art; Katonah Museum of Art and Storm King Arts Center. She has been included in group exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Art and Design, Bronx Museum of the Arts, The Studio Museum in Harlem and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, among others. Her work is the collections of the following selected institutions: the Bronx Museum of Art; The Metropolitan Museum of Art; New Orleans Museum of Art; Newark Museum and The Snite Museum of Art. Booker lives in New York City and her studio is located in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
