Performance Artist : Chris Burden

I looked at many different performance artists, but for some reason Chris Burden stuck out to me.

This guy did a couple things that intrigued me. He was one of those artists that believed that putting oneself in danger is an art form. One performance called Shoot was done in the seventies. In this act, Chris Burden would have his assistant distanced from about five meters away with a .22 rifle. Once the assistant was distanced, he/she would shoot Mr. Burden in the left arm. Mr. Burden himself would be considered the sculpture once he was shot. I believe the meaning of this piece was that getting shot was not at all fake like in the movies, but as real as the blood that drips down from a wound. The Vietnam War was going on during that time, so his piece would raise awareness for gunshots.

Another performance he did was called Trans-Fixed. In this piece, Chris Burden had his arms and legs nailed to the back of a Volkswagen. He was basically crucified to the car. The car would then rev for two minutes and then be pushed back into a garage. Obviously there is a religious message in the piece, but I'm not sure I can tell what it means.

The last piece I thought was interesting that he did was called  Doomed. In this performance Chris Burden positioned himself under a 5x8 slanted piece of glass. He remained there for however long it took somebody to interact with him. When somebody did finally interact with him in some way, (like Dennis O' Shea placing a pitcher of water in Burden's reach) he would get up and smash the glass and then quickly take a hammer to the clock next to him ending the piece. I don't even know where to start for the meaning on this one.