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[In the early 1970s] Burden’s shockingly simple, unforgettable, and strikingly poignant performances took the jaded art world by surprise as an example of what the most extreme art could be. The image of Burden that unfortunately continues to resonate in the public mind is a of a young man who had himself, shot, electrocuted, impaled, cut, drowned, incarcerated, and sequestered. Although the early performance works remain critical to understanding the formal and thematic concerns of Burden’s post-performance sculptural works, too often the myth obscures the facts.
—Paul Schimmel
Gagosian is pleased to present an exhibition by Chris Burden featuring various means of evidence—photographs, relics, and films—made during the artist’s performances and events from the early ’70s through the ’80s.
The exhibition will include the Deluxe Photo Album (1971–73), which consists of photographs and texts documenting legendary performances such as Shoot (1971) and Five Day Locker Piece (1971). Several “Relics” from Burden’s performances will also be displayed. The “Relics” are critical artifacts and physical touchstones from Burden’s performances such as Trans-Fixed (1974) and Dreamy Nights (1979).
Also included in the exhibition are television commercials Burden made during the mid ’70s, which were originally screened during airtime he had purchased on TV stations in New York and Los Angeles. These commercials have recently been made into a small edition on DVD and will be presented on a monitor in the gallery. Another film work, Beam Drop (1984), will be shown in its original 16mm format; it documents the free fall of sixty large steel I-beams into a pit of wet cement to form a massive permanent 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.
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.
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: 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
Sydney Stutterheim looks at the brief but feverish obsession behind this 1980 video by Chris Burden.