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extreme measures. chris burden.

Home designart & literature & educationextreme measures. chris burden.

extreme measures. chris burden.

Oct 13, 2013 | art & literature & education, cultural & education, events, people, public space >> |
extreme measures. chris burden.
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porsche with meteorite | 2013 > restored 1974 porsche 914 – 390 pound meteorite – steel structure installation at chris burden’s studio topanga california

Many of the pieces in artist Chris Burden’s show at the New Museum in New York called “Extreme Measures” involve balance. He likes to compare and contrast size and weight by linking things with wires and beams. So when a huge crane beside a skyscraper under construction on 57th Street in New York the other day malfunctioned, it seemed as if a Burden piece had escaped and grown large. The street was shut down due to the menace of a 30 ton concrete counterweight from a crane overhead. And 30 tons is actually a pretty small chunk of concrete.

A similar piece from Burden’s show contrasts a 350 pound meteorite with a 1964 Porsche 914 connected teeter totter style in mock measure. Here the contrast is raw material and pristine design, cosmic melt down and Teutonic metallurgy and precision. Burden was well known in the 1970s for performance pieces called Shoot, from 1971, in which he was shot through the arm with a rifle, and Trans-fixed, in which he was nailed to a Volkswagen Beetle, crucifixion style. [ details ]
burden-porsche1

burden-ghostship230-feet-long ghost ship | 2005 > courtesy of the museum

burden-skyscraper136-foot-tall twin quasi legal skyscrapers | 2013 > courtesy of the museum

burden-vw1transfixed | 1974

about phil patton

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Phil Patton

about Phil Patton

Phil Patton is a contributing editor at Departures and Esquire magazines, a contributing writer at Wired and an automotive design writer for The New York Times. He was a regular contributor to The New York Times House and Home section and, in 1998, originated the “Public Eye” column. He has written many books including: Made in USA: The Secret History of the Things That Made America (Grove-Weidenfeld, 1992), which was named a New York Times notable book of the year; Bug: The Strange Mutations of the World's Most Famous Automobile (Simon & Schuster, 2002); Michael Graves Designs: The Art of the Everyday Object (Melcher, 2004); and Dreamland: Travels Inside the Secret World of Roswell and Area 51 (Villard, 1998). He has also written for Art in America, ARTnews, Connoisseur, Geo, Harper’s Bazaar, Men’s Journal, The New Republic, New York Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, Rolling Stone, Smithsonian, Travel + Leisure, Traveler, The Village Voice and Vogue. Patton was Editorial Consultant on the Guggenheim Museum’s “Motorcycle” show in 1998 and Consulting Curator for the “Different Roads” exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1999. In 2000 he was consultant and contributor for “On the Job: Design and the American Office” at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.

view all entries by Phil Patton.

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