Extended through September 19, 2015
About
“Limits” is a relative term. Like beauty, it is often in the eye of the beholder.
—Chris Burden
Gagosian Paris is pleased to present works by Chris Burden, in his first exhibition in Paris in more than twenty years.
Since the 1970s, Burden has channeled the daring spirit of his early life-threatening performances into sculptures that embody technical feats on an imposing scale. Toys (figurines, train sets, Erector parts) are used as the building blocks for expansive scale models, cities, and battlefields, while actual vehicles (ships, trucks, and cars) are suspended or set in motion in surreal and improbable ways.
Since 2003 Burden has constructed large-scale models of bridges—both real and imagined—by plotting thousands of toy construction parts. Tower of London Bridge (2003) mimics every aspect of the suspension design of the actual bridge, including its functional drawbridge. Tyne Bridge Kit (2004) is Burden’s reimagining of the Erector toolbox: the one-ton wooden chest contains rows of drawers that store the tools, blueprints, and two hundred thousand metal parts that can theoretically be used to assemble a 9 1/2-meter-long model of the Tyne Bridge in England. In Three Arch Dry Stack Bridge, 1/4 Scale (2013), first exhibited in the major survey Chris Burden: Extreme Measures at the New Museum, New York (2013–14), three elegant arches are made up of hand-cast concrete blocks, held together by gravity alone in the manner of classical keystone construction.
In Porsche with Meteorite (2013), Burden presents the convulsive image of a bright yellow sports car hanging in apparent balance with an extraterrestrial rock at either tip of a huge steel truss. Pair of Namur Mortars (2013) is a more subtle mimesis, the seventeenth-century war machine reproduced to functional perfection, including piles of stone cannonballs. Manipulating perception through obsessive veracity combined with shifting scale to achieve effects that are as ominous as they are surreal, Burden continues to challenge the physical and psychological limits of sculpture.
Gagosian est heureuse de présenter des œuvres de Chris Burden, sa première exposition personnelle à Paris en plus de vingt ans.
Depuis les années 1970, Burden a su rediriger ses performances, dans lesquelles sa vie était mise en danger et réalisées alors qu’il était un jeune artiste à l’esprit audacieux, pour les transformer en des sculptures illustrant ses prouesses techniques à l’échelle imposante. Les jouets (des figurines, des trains électriques, des bouts de jeu de construction Erector/Meccano) sont utilisés comme des blocs de construction pour de vastes maquettes, des villes et des champs de batailles; alors que de véritables véhicules (des bateaux, des camions, et des voitures) sont suspendus ou mis en mouvement de façon invraisemblable et surréelle.
Depuis 2003, Burden, en assemblant de milliers d’éléments de jeux de construction, construit des maquettes de ponts à grande-échelle—à la fois réelles et imaginaires. Tower of London Bridge (2003) imite chaque aspect de la conception de suspension du véritable London Bridge, y compris le fonctionnement du pont-levis. Pour l’œuvre Tyne Bridge Kit (2004), Burden a ré-imaginé une boîte à outils de la marque Erector: le bahut en bois, d’une tonne, contient des tiroirs de rangements pour les outils, des plans, et les 200,000 pièces métalliques peuvant en théorie être utilisées pour réaliser une maquette du Tyne Bridge en Angleterre (d’une longueur de 9,5 mètres). Three Arch Day Stack Bridge, 1/4 Scale (2013), présentée pour la première fois lors de l’exposition d’envergure Chris Burden : Extreme Measures qui s’est tenue au New Museum à New York en 2013–14, est une œuvre composée de trois arches harmonieuses construites à partir de blocs de ciment fabriqués à la main, et maintenues ensemble uniquement par la force de gravité, à la manière des constructions anciennes en clé de voute.
Porsche with Meteorite (2013) présente l’image choc paroxysmique d’une voiture de sport peinte en jaune vif, suspendue en équilibre apparent avec une roche extraterrestre ; chaque extrémité étant reliée par une large poutre d’acier. Pair of Namur Mortars (2013), œuvre à la mimésis plus subtile, est une machine de guerre du 17ème siècle dont la fonctionnalité est parfaitement reproduite, jusqu’à inclure les piles de boulets de canon en pierre.
L’obsession de la véracité chez Burden, ainsi que sa manipulation de notre perception lorsqu’il joue sur les échelles, provoquent des effets aussi menaçants que surréalistes ; continuant ainsi de questionner les limites physiques et psychologiques de la sculpture.
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In Conversation
American Artist, Yayoi Shionoiri, and Sydney Stutterheim on Poetic Practical: The Unrealized Work of Chris Burden
Join Gagosian to celebrate the publication of Poetic Practical: The Unrealized Work of Chris Burden with a conversation between American Artist, Yayoi Shionoiri, and Sydney Stutterheim presented at the Kitchen, New York. Considering the book’s sustained examination of sixty-seven projects that remained incomplete at the time of Burden’s death in 2015, the trio discuss the various ways that an artist’s work and legacy live on beyond their lifetime.
![Photograph of the installation process of an unrealized performance by Chris Burden at the Newport Harbor Art Museum, California, 1974. Photo: Brian Forrest, courtesy Michael Auping](https://gagosian.com/media/images/quarterly/interview-at-the-edge-chris-burden-prelude-to-a-lost-performace/9BKOFXFjt5ry_275x275.jpg)
At the Edge
Chris Burden: Prelude to a Lost Performance
Michael Auping tells the Quarterly’s Alison McDonald about the preparations for a performance by Chris Burden at the Newport Harbor Art Museum in Southern California in 1974—and the event’s abrupt cancellation—providing a glimpse into the mindset of a young, aggressive, and ambitious artist in the early stages of his career.
![Takashi Murakami cover and Andreas Gursky cover for Gagosian Quarterly, Summer 2022 magazine](https://gagosian.com/media/images/quarterly/now-available-gagosian-quarterly-summer-2022/r02SiX74FJ-m_275x275.jpg)
Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Summer 2022
The Summer 2022 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, with two different covers—featuring Takashi Murakami’s 108 Bonnō MURAKAMI.FLOWERS (2022) and Andreas Gursky’s V & R II (2022).
![Chris Burden, model for the installation Xanadu as proposed to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2008. Photo: Joel Searles](https://gagosian.com/media/images/quarterly/interview-chris-burden-poetic-practical/1khIXxPHmD1b_275x275.jpg)
Chris Burden: Poetic Practical
A new publication exploring the work that Chris Burden conceived but left unrealized delves into his archive to present sixty-seven visionary projects that reveal the aspirations of this formidable artist. The book’s editors, Sydney Stutterheim and Andie Trainer, discuss its development with Yayoi Shionoiri, executive director of the Chris Burden Estate.
Gagosian Quarterly Films
Chris Burden: Big Wrench
From January 23 to February 21, 2019, Gagosian Quarterly presented a special online screening of Chris Burden’s 1980 video Big Wrench.
![Big Wrench](https://gagosian.com/media/images/quarterly/essay-chris-burden-big-wrench/fbAXY3LxIFEO_275x275.jpg)
Big Wrench
Sydney Stutterheim looks at the brief but feverish obsession behind this 1980 video by Chris Burden.