Rubber Soul

CHAKAIA BOOKER HAS made her largest sculpture yet. Installed in Campbell Art Park, Shaved Portions (2021) is a towering abstract form made of deconstructed steel belted and bias tires attached to stainless-steel armatures. Discarded tires happen to be Booker’s signature material, as she finds “beauty, rhythm, and common humanity” in the unique characteristics of weathered rubber. Not only does her new sculpture find ways to connect with its diversity of viewers, Shaved Portions’ inaugural site punctuates the historic Automobile Alley neighborhood with the very materials it has sold for years.

Chakaia Booker’s Shaved Portions will be on view in Campbell Art Park on the west side of Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center through summer 2022. oklahomacontemporary.org