Acid Rain

Close up of Acid Rain

The wall-sized, horizontal sculpture consists of black rubber tires and tubing that has been sliced, stripped, woven, looped, twisted and otherwise manipulated into an expressive and abstract high-relief tableau.
The wall-sized, horizontal sculpture consists of black rubber tires and tubing that has been sliced, stripped, woven, looped, twisted and otherwise manipulated into an expressive and abstract high-relief tableau.
Chakaia Booker, Acid Rain, 2001; Rubber tires and wood, 120 x 240 x 36 in.; NMWA, Museum purchase: Members' Acquisition Fund; © Chakaia Booker

Acid Rain comprises recycled rubber tires and tubing that Chakaia Booker has sliced, stripped, woven, twisted, and riveted into an expressive tableau. Her sculpture highlights the allusive power of her assemblage technique, intertwining the traditionally domestic, feminine pursuits of weaving and handiwork with industrial technology, using saws and drills to work with her unwieldy medium.

Their relationship to technology and prior function as a means of mobility makes tires apt metaphors for our post-modern world’s fixation on progress and connectivity. Booker notes: “Acid Rain symbolizes both the destruction and the creative possibilities of our interaction with the environment. Old, worn-out tires that are recycled symbolize opposing energies that are being resolved into new works of beauty.”

Although her sculptures express a dynamic energy, Booker meticulously plans her works. Acid Rain weighs more than 2,000 pounds; structurally, it is formed from 12 wall-mounted sections that join seamlessly. To devise her larger sculptures, Booker uses computer-aided design software, creates detailed models, and constructs armatures from pressure-treated wood and steel rods.

Artwork Details

  • Artist

    Chakaia Booker
  • Title

    Acid Rain
  • Date

    2001
  • Medium

    Rubber tires, Wood
  • Dimensions

    120 x 240 x 36 in.
  • Donor Credit

    Museum purchase: Members’ Acquisition Fund
  • Photo Credit

    © Chakaia Booker
  • On Display

    Yes