Chakaia Booker

Chakaia Booker (born 1953 Newark, New Jersey) is an internationally renowned and widely collected American sculptor known for creating monumental, abstract works for gallery and public, outdoor spaces. Booker’s works are contained in more than 40 public collections (including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Library of Congress, and Yale University Art Gallery) and have been exhibited across the US, in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Booker was included in the 2000 Whitney Biennial, received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2005, and an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Art in 2001. Booker has lived and worked in New York City’s East Village since the early 1980’s and maintains a production studio in Allentown, PA. Chakaia Booker is represented by David Nolan Gallery, New York, NY.

Booker is best known for her innovative and signature use of recycled rubber tires, her primary sculptural material. In 2009, Booker began an in-depth exploration of printmaking, in collaboration with Master Printer Phil Sanders at the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, creating a significant body of graphic works, centered around the process of chine collé. Booker’s approach to printmaking processes is reminiscent of her modular working methods for making sculpture. Printmaking has become an integral part of Booker’s artistic output, and as with her use of rubber, Booker has invented unique ways of manipulating materials and process of printmaking.