Used Tire Sculptural Black Magic of Chakia Booker

by tonyleather in Ethnicity, January 6, 2011

This awesome african american sculptress spent thirtyyears living through social upheaval in her home town of New York, finally discovering old tires as the perfect medium for her unbelievably awesome art works, among them black sculptures that take your breath away. Incredible.

Sculptress Chakia Booker has had the same East Village address in New York for over 30 years. Civil unrest, when she first moved in there, meant that her now local area was always subject to protest fires, especially in the form of burning cars. Chakia was in her late 20’s at that time, seeking her own niche for artistic expression, and the effects of the fire on rubber interested her so much that she started salvaging tires, to see wha tcould be made from them.

Chakia was actually born in 1953, in Newark, New Jersey, and is one of the most well-known of African American artists. She studied very hard for her Bachelors of Art degree in Sociology from Rutgers University in 1976, achieving a Master of Fine Artsdegree from the City College of New York in 1993. From an early age, it was obvious to all that she was artistic, and would always feel the need to put those artistic skills to good use, which turned out to be elaborate sculptural work..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jackvinson/3716441037/sizes/z/in/photostream/

Best known for amazing sculptural creations composed of cut-up car tires , reassembled on wooden or steel frames to create abstract art works. Chakia has ambitions, through the use of this particular recycled material, to get back to her roots, evoking, along the way, issues such as black culture, identity and the environment. Her ability to transform pieces of ugly rubber tire into objects with have surfaces resembling scales, spikes, armor, skin or even clothing, is what sets her apart from other artists.

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http://www.decordova.org/art/exhibitions/current/booker.html

Emotional and psychological states in the widest possible range are exactly what Chakia wants her creativity to evoke in the viewer. The black sculptures she so effortlessly creates can seem all things to all people. Ominous, attractive, , majestic, humorous, tender, and even sexual. She works and lives these days in New York City, where stunning examples of her work are on view at the Akron Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Arts, the Max Protetch and June Kelly galleries in New York as well as several others.

http://www.decordova.org/art/exhibitions/current/booker.html

This breathtaking sculptress has never forgotten her African heritage, nor has she failed to acknowledge old artwork that has always had an influence on her. Tire treads remind us all of scarification and body decorations that have always played a part in African cultures. Chakia seems to enjoy drawing on memories of distorted facial features visible on some West African Tribal marks.

http://www.decordova.org/art/exhibitions/current/booker.html

This amazingly talented sculptress is very proud of her African American identity, and the aesthetic lineage can be seen throughout her work in tread patterns and geometric allusions to traditional African textiles. Tires characterize, symbolize, and or signify a toughness, she believes, linked to the will of the African for continued survival, which is why she uses the material she does.

http://www.decordova.org/art/exhibitions/current/booker.html

The past decade has seen this remarkably talented artist becoming one of America’s most important sculptors. Her latest and largest museum exhibition to date, entitled ‘in and Out’, was typical of her, representing the wide range of her output, including monumental outdoor sculptures, a very wide selection of indoor sculptures as well as drawings, and photographs. This unbelievably gifted woman has so much to offer. Is it not the case that ‘green’ art can be simply wonderful?