Chris Burden lived much longer than was frankly expected given his early art world exploits. In his wild and heady days as an emergent performance artist, he consistently pushed the outer limits of what could be considered acceptable or sane art practice in a series of masochistic performances in which he was confined, shot, electrocuted, burned and crucified.
Known for his particularly brave and transgressive performances in the pioneering early days of Fluxus and body art, he died in Los Angeles on May 10. He was 69.
In an age marked by political turmoil, civic unrest and radical artistic experimentation, Burden still managed to stand out.
Trained at UC Irvine, he took the reigning minimalist aesthetic of the day and forged his own brand of endurance and body art, using himself as a subject for actions that examined the dynamics of violence, power, control and media.
In a society desensitized to racial violence and war, he believed the art world, still content with being confined to painting and sculpture, needed a serious shakeup. He made it his mission to extend both the materials and scope of artistic expression into bold new territory.
In Five Day Locker Piece, his masters thesis project and one of his tamer performances, Burden crammed himself in a fetal position into a closed cube locker for five days, consuming nothing but water. In subsequent works, he was shot in the arm with a .22 rifle and thrown down two flights of stairs. He lay uncommunicative in bed for 22 days, opened fire at a 747 with a handgun (a purely symbolic gesture which nonetheless attracted federal attention), had pins pushed into his body and jammed two live electrical wires into his chest.
His exploits veered from merely masochistic to dangerously unhinged. In 1972, he agreed to appear on a Los Angeles television arts program hosted by long-time contemporary art doyenne Phyllis Lutjeans. Stipulating that the show had to be broadcast live, Burden proceeded to hold Lutjeans hostage a knifepoint. The audience was terrified, but Lutjeans reported later that he had reassured her quietly. She still recalls the incident as one of the most exciting of her career, and she and Burden remained friends.
Burdens built his reputation on his talent for re-contextualizing and galvanizing the dynamics of societal power relationships that, often challenging his audiences in ways that demanded an unprecedented level of trust. In one piece, he sat tied to a chair wearing a necklace and bracelets made of copper wire. Buckets of water, each containing live high voltage wires, were nearby. Those who entered the gallery knew that kicking any of the buckets over would electrocute him.
In his most famous and iconic work, Trans-Fixed, he had himself crucified on the hood of a Volkswagen bug, a bizarre and hauntingly disturbing act that simultaneously evoked religious martyrdom, hippie transport and lingering discontent with the Vietnam War. The engine revved for two minutes to symbolize his scream. Photos of the event cemented his status as a performance art legend.
Burden moved on from live performance to incredibly intricate, often massive sculptural installations, with toys and salvaged objects in kinetic dioramas full of chaos and boyish wonder.
His pieces stilled carried a stark political tone. LAPD Uniforms, his response to the 1992 L.A. riots, featured 30 versions of the force’s uniform, complete with accessories, blown up to nearly twice their original size. Placed along a wall side by side, they formed a chain that broadcast the ominous power inherent in police regalia.
As an elder statesman, Burden became a tenured professor at UCLA, cementing the department’s reputation as a global leader in arts education.
Urban Light, his sculptural project outside the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, is an icon of the city. Two hundred antique L.A. streetlights are placed in precise rows, a visual parable for the passage of time. When lit at the same time at night, they appear as a freeze-frame from the last century.
Elegant and evocative, it’s become a favourite spot for tourists seeking the perfect Instagram photo. Little do they know that this artwork is by one of performance art’s most infamous pioneering bad boys.
Yet his approach through the years remained remarkably consistent. While his performances appeared impromptu, if not deranged, they were very carefully considered and planned, executed with the intent to galvanize attention in a way that deepened understanding and experience.
As Burden said, “It’s about trying to frame something. And draw attention to it and say, ‘Here’s the beauty in this. I’m going to put a frame around it, and I think this is beautiful.’
“That’s what artists do. It’s really a pointing activity.”
art@nowtoronto.com | @davyjonesing
