Chris Burden: Performance and Sculpture

Chris Burden (1946–2015) was a pivotal American artist renowned for his provocative performance art in the 1970s and his monumental, often kinetic, sculptural installations. His work consistently explored the boundaries of physical and mental endurance, the nature of power, and societal norms, leaving an indelible mark on contemporary art history. This article provides a comprehensive overview of Chris Burden's performance and sculpture, perfect for students seeking a deeper understanding of his impactful career.

Unpacking Chris Burden: Performance and Sculpture in Detail

Burden's artistic journey began by challenging the very definition of art, pushing audiences to question what art could be. From self-inflicted danger to large-scale engineering feats, his diverse body of work remains a significant subject for study in art and art history courses.

Early Life and Artistic Foundations

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1946, Chris Burden experienced a profound event at age 12: emergency surgery without anesthesia after a motor-scooter accident. This convalescence sparked his deep interest in visual art. He pursued his B.A. at Pomona College, studying visual arts, physics, and architecture, and later earned his MFA from the University of California, Irvine, where he was influenced by conceptual artist Robert Irwin.

The Controversial Years: Chris Burden's Performance Art (1970s)

Burden gained notoriety in the early 1970s for his extreme and often dangerous performance art, where his own body became the central medium. These pieces aimed to reflect on the violent realities of society and the precariousness of contemporary life.

Some of his most famous and challenging performances include:

• Five Day Locker Piece (1971): For his MFA thesis, Burden locked himself into a school locker for five days, surviving on water. This work explored themes of isolation and endurance.
• Shoot (1971): Perhaps his most infamous work, Burden arranged for a friend to shoot him in the left arm with a.22 rifle from 15 feet away. He described this act as "as American as apple pie," questioning societal desensitization to violence.
• Deadman (1972): Burden lay on the ground, covered by a canvas and road flares, until onlookers assumed he was deceased and called emergency services, leading to his arrest.
• TV Hijack (1972): During a live TV interview, Burden held a knife to the host's throat, threatening her if the station ceased live transmission. He later destroyed the recording of the incident.
• Bed Piece (1972): Burden remained in bed for 22 days at a gallery in Venice, California.
• 747 (1973): He fired several pistol shots at a Boeing 747 passenger jet during its takeoff from Los Angeles International Airport.
• Trans-Fixed (1974): Burden was famously crucified on the back of a Volkswagen Beetle, with nails hammered through his hands, and the car's engine was revved for two minutes.
• White Light/White Heat (1974): He spent 22 days lying on a triangular platform, out of sight from viewers, without eating or speaking.
• Doomed (1975): Burden lay motionless under a slanted sheet of glass at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, until a museum employee intervened after 40 hours, prioritizing his well-being over the artwork's integrity.

Other notable performance works from this period include Match Piece (1972), B.C. Mexico (1973), Fire Roll (1973), Prelude to 220, or 110 (1974), Velvet Water (1974), Do You Believe in Television (1976), and Honest Labor (1979).

Transition to Monumental Sculpture and Installations

By the late 1970s, Burden began moving away from body-based performances, turning his focus to vast, engineered sculptural installations. He applied his earlier themes of power, endurance, and human limitation to industrial materials and technologies, exploring how public infrastructure and scale could be manipulated.

Key early sculptures and kinetic works include:

• B-Car (1975): A fully operational, lightweight four-wheeled vehicle designed to achieve 100 mph and 100 mpg.
• DIECIMILA (1977): A facsimile of an Italian 10,000 Lira note, an early example of fine art printed on both sides.
• The Speed of Light Machine (1983): A reconstruction of a scientific experiment to "see" the speed of light.
• Big Wheel (1979): A kinetic work featuring a 1968 Benelli motorcycle attached to a large, nineteenth-century metal flywheel. When the motorcycle is revved, the flywheel spins, storing immense energy.
• The Atomic Alphabet (1980): A giant, hand-colored lithograph, often performed by Burden dressed in leather, stomping to punctuate each letter.
• Samson (1988): A 100-ton hydraulic jack connected to a turnstile at the Newport Harbor Art Museum, designed to push timbers into the museum's walls with each visitor. It was forcibly disassembled due to safety concerns.

Later Works: Grand Scale and Complex Engineering

Burden's later career was defined by increasingly intricate and large-scale installations, often involving thousands of components and demonstrating remarkable engineering prowess. He continued to explore themes of conflict, urbanism, and the marvels of human invention.

Notable later installations include:

• A Tale of Two Cities (1981): A room-filling miniature reconstruction of two warring city-states, featuring 5,000 war toys on a massive sand base.
• All the Submarines of the United States of America (1987): 625 identical, handmade cardboard models representing the entire US submarine fleet, suspended from the ceiling to appear like a school of fish.
• Medusa's Head (1990): A five-ton suspended sculpture of concrete, rock, wood, and steel, featuring a miniature train system weaving through its rugged landscape.
• Fist of Light (1993): A sealed metal box housing hundreds of burning metal halide lamps, requiring industrial air conditioning to cool the room.
• The Flying Steamroller (1996): A 1968 Huber road grader suspended as if flying.
• Hell Gate (1998): A 28-foot-long scale model of the Hell Gate railroad bridge, constructed from Erector and Meccano parts.
• When Robots Rule: The Two Minute Airplane Factory (1999): A factory-like assembly line that manufactured and launched rubber-band-powered model airplanes.
• Tower of London Bridge (2003): A large-scale model of the famous bridge, complete with a functional drawbridge, built from thousands of toy construction parts.
• Urban Light (2008): A permanent installation at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) comprising 202 fully restored, antique cast-iron streetlamps from the 1920s and 30s, illuminated at dusk. This work has become an iconic landmark of Los Angeles.
• What My Dad Gave Me (2008): A 65-foot-tall skyscraper made of one million Erector set parts, displayed at Rockefeller Center in New York City.
• Metropolis II (2011): An intense kinetic sculpture, modeled after a frenetic modern city, featuring 1,100 custom-manufactured die-cast cars and HO-scale trains speeding through a complex network of roads and tracks.
• Porsche With Meteorite (2013): A restored 1974 Porsche sports car perfectly balanced on a telescoping beam opposite a 390-pound meteorite.
• Three Arch Dry Stack Bridge, 1/4 Scale (2013): Three elegant arches made of 974 hand-cast concrete blocks held together by gravity.
• Light of Reason (2014): A sculpture at Brandeis University consisting of three rows of 24 Victorian lamp posts, creating a grand gateway and outdoor event space.
• Buddha's Fingers (2014-15): An installation of 32 antique cast-iron streetlamps.
• Ode to Santos Dumont (2015): Burden's last completed work, a working dirigible modeled after Alberto Santos-Dumont's 1901 airship, capable of indoor flight.

Chris Burden's Legacy and Exhibitions

Burden's work is held in prominent museum collections worldwide, including LACMA, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Tate Gallery. He was represented by Gagosian Gallery from 1991 until his death in 2015 from melanoma, at the age of 69.

His legacy continues through publications like Poetic Practical: The Unrealized Work of Chris Burden, which delves into his sixty-seven uncompleted projects, and retrospective exhibitions like "Chris Burden: Extreme Measures" at the New Museum in 2013, which was his first major US survey in over 25 years.

Frequently Asked Questions About Chris Burden's Art

Students often have questions about Chris Burden's controversial and complex art. Here are some common inquiries:

Why is Chris Burden's art considered controversial?

Chris Burden's early performance art often involved real physical danger, self-injury, or challenging social norms, such as being shot in Shoot or nailed to a car in Trans-Fixed. These acts were controversial because they pushed the limits of what was considered acceptable or even safe within art, forcing audiences to confront difficult questions about vulnerability, violence, and the role of the artist and spectator.

What was Chris Burden trying to achieve with his performance art?

Burden aimed to challenge the traditional boundaries of art, using his own body to explore themes of risk, control, pain, vulnerability, and the political climate, particularly in response to events like the Vietnam War. He wanted to make art that could not be bought or sold in the traditional sense, and to prompt viewers to question the material world, media, and power structures.

How did Chris Burden transition from performance art to large-scale sculpture?

After the 1970s, Burden began to move away from using his body as the primary medium, partly due to the intensity and liability concerns of his performances. He started applying the same conceptual rigor and exploration of power, scale, and engineering to large-scale, industrial sculptures and installations. This shift allowed him to create works that still challenged perceptions but on a grander, more physically imposing scale, such as The Big Wheel and Urban Light.

What are some of Chris Burden's most famous sculptures?

Some of Chris Burden's most iconic sculptures include Urban Light (2008) at LACMA, a permanent installation of 202 antique streetlamps, and Metropolis II (2011), a complex kinetic sculpture simulating a bustling modern city with thousands of toy cars and trains. Other well-known works are The Big Wheel (1979) and All the Submarines of the United States of America (1987).

Where can I see Chris Burden's work today?

Chris Burden's work is featured in numerous prominent museum collections around the world. His permanent installation Urban Light is located at the entrance to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Many other major works can be found at institutions like the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Tate Gallery in London, and the Inhotim Institute in Brazil. Consult museum websites for current exhibitions and collections.

For more information on Chris Burden, consider exploring his Wikipedia page.