ART CITIES:London-Chris Burden
More than any other American artist, Chris Burden pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in art, forcing viewers and critics to redefine their narrow, outmoded definitions of what art was and what it could do. He helped prove that art did not have to result in an object, and that art could be pushed to extreme limits and still be art. His influence extended to future conceptual, performance, and installation artists, among them Carolee Schneemann and Marina Abramovic.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Gagosian Gallery
In the exhibition “Measured”, are on presentation two large-scale works by Chris Burden: “1 Ton Crane Truck” (2009) and “Porsche with Meteorite” (2013). With a series of startling actions in the early 1970s, Burden challenged his own mental and physical limitations, and with them the boundaries of art and performance. Still a student, Chris Burden realized his very first performance ”Five Day Locker Piece” in the context of his Masters in Fine Arts at the University of California, Irvine, where he had enrolled in 1969. The performance began on 26/4/1971, when Burden padlocked himself inside a university locker, where he would remain for five days straight. The locker he chose was number 5, the central one in a three-level bank of identical lockers. For his most famous work, “Shoot” (1971) Burden had a friend shoot him in the arm with a .22 long rifle. A short clip is preserved documenting the performance in which Burden’s reaction is incredibly calm and composed, nonchalantly grabbing his arm after the shot and walking off screen. Meant to comment on the hypocrisy of soldiers being shot in Vietnam and characters being shot on television programs. For another notable work, “Bed Piece” (18/2-3/3/72) Burden moved a single bed into the gallery space, then living in it for 22 days. He did not speak to anyone during the duration. The work reorients assumptions about what a performance entails, making the usually-private bed into a very-public stage. “Trans-fixed” (23/4/74) is one of Burden’s most cited pieces. The documentation of Burden’s performance recalls images of a crucified Jesus, but instead of a cross, Burden is nailed to a Volkswagen-“the car of the people”. Somewhat humorously using a commercial car to evoke religious imagery of martyrdom, Burden demystifies the sacrificial act. Over the course of his career, the daring spirit of these early performances evolved into compelling large-scale sculptures that embody technical feats on an imposing scale. Burden used toys (figurines, train sets, Erector parts) as the building blocks for expansive scale models of skyscrapers, dystopic cities, and battlefields; conversely, he deployed actual vehicles (ships, trucks, and cars) in surreal and gravity-defying ways. In “1 Ton Crane Truck” (2009) a functional 1964 F350 Ford crane-truck is held in balance with the weight of a one-ton cast-iron cube, the Ford is painted bright orange and the custom-made cube suspended from its crane boom announces its weight “1 TON”in recessed lettering, forcing the viewer to consider the physical capacities of the familiar American vehicle. Burden pushed this sense of balance even further in “Porsche with Meteorite” (2013). Like a giant seesaw, a yellow Porsche and a nickel-iron meteorite hang from either end of a steel beam. The fulcrum, placed off-center, distributes the weight so that both objects are raised from the floor. The Porsche, at 993.4 kilograms weighs down the short end of the beam, and the meteorite, at 176.9 kilograms, counterbalances it on the long end. The work thus draws attention to the relativity of size, weight, and value, juxtaposing refined German manufacture with an extraterrestrial metal chunk. Both vehicles have been restored to pristine condition using contemporary materials, from fresh paint to new tires.
Info: Gagosian Gallery, 6–24 Britannia Street, London, Duration: 29/9/18-26/1/19, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-18:00, https://gagosian.com
