Auspicious Behavior: Chakaia Booker Reception

Description

Chakaia Booker: Auspicious Behavior gallery talk & reception Thursday, October 10th, 5-7 PM

Image Featured: Chakaia Booker, Untitled, 2016, Lithography, Woodcut, and Handpainted Chine Collé, 42.75 x 31 inches.

About the exhibition: 

Auspicious Behavior features 19 prints, 3 wall sculptures, and one free-standing sculpture. The Ewing Gallery worked with the EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop to secure the loan of 16 prints. An additional three prints were produced in the University of Tennessee printshop by Booker, Blackburn Workshop master printer, Justin Sanz, and University of Tennessee printmaking students. Booker has been making prints with the EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop since 2009 and has been collaborating with master printer Justin Sanz since 2016. Her utilization of the printmaking process chine collé allows her to create unique prints comprised of collaged lithographs and ink drawings. Booker has developed her own method to create her prints; Taking full advantage of the various tools and materials available in the print studio, Booker cuts into woodblocks with drills, chisels and grinders and paints on paper with gouache, watercolor and film ink to create an array of lively marks: some sharp and rough, others organic, swirling and energetic. A departure from the characteristically dark color palette of her sculptural work, Booker layers thin, hand-painted and printed Asian papers, combining bright reds and yellows with muted earth tones and blues. Once composed, these papers are adhered together through the process of chine collé.

Booker began to integrate discarded construction materials into large, outdoor sculptures in the early 1990s. Tires resonate with her for their versatility and rich range of historical and cultural associations. Booker slices, twists, weaves, and rivets this medium into radically new forms and textures, which easily withstand outdoor environments.