Gridlock In Heisler Park: Tire-d Installation By Chakaia Booker

LAGUNA BEACH, CA —Three temporary sculptures sit in Heisler Park. Artist Chakaia Booker selected her pieces, with names like “Gridlock,” “What’s Not” and “Pass the Buck,” to showcase a fusion of current socio-ecological concerns.

In artworks of steel and exploded rubber tires, Booker forces her perspective on racial and economic difference, globalization, and gender.

For Booker, the shreds of treads and tires "resonate with her for their versatility and rich range of historical and cultural associations."

To create each abstract work, Booker slices, twists, weaves, and rivets their medium into radically new forms and textures, a city spokesperson says of the art. Her sculptures have been exhibited across the United States, Europe, Africa and Asia, according to her biography.

The varied tones of the rubber parallels human diversity, Booker says. Tire treads suggest images as varied as African scarification and textile designs.

According to arts commissioner Donna Ballard, "the city of Laguna Beach’s Cultural Arts Department and the Arts Commission has worked for two years to bring a temporary art installation by Booker to Heisler Park, she said in a statement. The installation "is not to be missed," Ballard added.

Mayor Bob Whalen declared the works "provocative" and "appropriate for the current social climate," according to the Daily Pilot. "It's the idea of passing forward to others which you've received yourself."

If you haven't seen them at sunset, do yourself a favor and witness the changes in variation, Whalen advised.

This exhibition is a project of the City’s Arts Commission and was funded through the Laguna Beach Tourist Marketing District and the City of Laguna Beach. The three sculptures were installed by local artist Gerard Stripling and his team of workers.

It will remain in place until June, 2021, and cost the city $45,000 in preparation, transportation and marketing initiatives, according to city reports. It was approved in April.