By David Dorsky, Jordan Heinlein, Ian Cooper-Smith and Michael

Rotiroti

An Analysis of Chakaia Booker’s Foci

Rubber Tires and Some Steel

Chakaia Booker, sculptor and African-American woman of 60, is well known for her mastery of forging uniquely textured works out of everyday recycled materials.

Her sculptures, not only aesthetically pleasing, but also filled with sophisticated metaphorical value, address ecological matters, while also symbolizing ideas pertaining to race, gender, and society. Booker’s “foci , a piece on display at the Storm King sculpture park, strongly portrays one of her main focuses, race, which stems from her African American heritage. In this piece, Booker demands the viewer to look past the perception that tires are merely uniform, and find the unique and beautiful qualities of each individual piece of material. Qualities such as the presence of rust stains, treads, and serial numbers, as well as varying textures and shapes, cause no two pieces of rubber to be alike. Upon first sight, this sculpture appears to be one solid figure that has been crafted into an elliptical shape, however, with each step it becomes more apparent that it is made up of hundreds of pieces of tire. These pieces, that seem to blend together when seen from a distance, are highlighted and stand out from one another when seen up close. Through this, Booker may be trying to emphasize the fault in racial stereotypes, and encouraging people to reexamine assumptions about groups of human beings. 

From far away the sculpture looks like it’s made of one type of texture, like scales on a fish. When you get closer though, you can see the multiple pieces of the sculpture and how detailed it is. The shapes on the sculpture differ, some are square and some are triangular. There are patches of tire throughout the sculpture that vary in shape and size.

Slide made by Ian Cooper-Smith

Foci is placed in the center of a patch of tall grass with a ring of shorter green grass surrounding it. It is placed in a way that makes it possible to walk around the sculpture. The point that Chakaia Booker is trying to make is that this piece of art was meant to be seen at many different angles. From the front and back, the two ellipses form together to look like an eye, and from the sides it looks like a completely different sculpture. The blackness of the sculpture contrasts perfectly with the bright yellow and green grass in the background. Foci is the only sculpture in the area and for good reason, with the nice trees and grass in the background. it deserves all the space it can get it, it is one of the best sculptures in the park.

Slide made by Michael Rotiroti

There’s a lot going on in Chakaia Booker’s “Foci.” At every angle, the viewer can discover something new and shift their opinion on the sculpture. But like every work of art, there is a most revealing detail. In this case, it is the material: used car tires. Booker’s use of this medium tells us a lot about her and the sculpture. According to nmwa.com (National Museum of Women in the Arts), Booker almost always uses tires as the main substance in her work. They are convenient because they can endure outdoor environments (where most of her sculptures are displayed) and according to her, “the varied tones of rubber parallel human diversity.” This sculpture can be compared to the works of Derek Gores, a renowned artist

who creates beautiful murals with recycled magazines and other found materials. Both of them convey the same message, that beautiful things can be done with objects that appear to be useless.

Slides made by Dave Dorsky

Derek Gores: “Collage 9”