Cut, Weld, and Build: Process in Works by Chakaia Booker
WHEN: October 1 through December 3, 2010; outdoor works will remain on view through August 2011, Opening reception October 1
WHERE: The Visual Art Center, 68 Elm Street, Summit
908.273.9121
Cut, Weld, Build features large-scale sculptures that document the range of Booker's practice from the mid-1990s to the present. Cut, Weld, Build was awarded $45,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts, the first award in the organization’s 78-year history.Since the early 1990s, New Jersey-born artist Chakaia Booker has emerged as one of the most notable American artists of her generation. She is especially celebrated for her largely, monumental scale sculptures made of an unconventional artistic material: rubber tires. Booker earned an undergraduate degree in sociology from Rutgers University and a Master of Fine Arts degree from City College of New York. She has had solo exhibitions at the Neuberger Museum of Art, the Akron Art Museum, the Marlborough Gallery, and her work is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Arts and the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
“We are very proud to have the support of the NEA for this important show,” commented Marion Grzesiak, the Art Center’s Executive Director. “It’s going to be an exciting exhibition, and we are thrilled to bring Ms. Booker’s work to our audiences throughout the region.”
E. Carmen Ramos, Curator of Cut, Weld, Build, is a noted scholar and a Ph.D. candidate in Art History at the University of Chicago; She lives in South Orange. She served as Assistant Curator at The Newark Museum and organizes exhibitions and public art projects.
Founded in 1933, the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey is the state’s largest organization dedicated exclusively to viewing, making and learning about contemporary art. Comprising a renowned studio school and a thriving exhibition, education and programming schedule, the Art Center welcomes over 60,000 visitors each year.
All images © Chakaia Booker, courtesy Marlborough Gallery, New York
Added Substance, 2008 (above)
rubber tire and stainless steel
96 x 54 x 36 inches
