Burden

This documentary can be seen as a record or a story of Chris Burden, was an American artist, and his artworks. If you are an artist, Chris Burden is the name you should know. You can dislike his work, but you will get some inspirations after you saw his pieces. From his early works on performance and sculpture to later installations, the art styles changed significantly from time to time so do Burden as an artist. The early artworks of Burden are full of violence, fear, uncertainty, and even bloody. The video about performance piece named 'Shoot,' his the most known 1971 performance work, reflected the moment of art. As Burden said, every person, especially in the United States, would have fantasy of getting shot. He just was a performer presenting this fantasy to the audience. The boundary between art and incident is blurred in this art piece. After watching videos of his early performance art, I cannot stop thinking the definition of art in the art world. All those pieces are on the line between art and lunatic actions. His later installations and sculptures are pleased to see. I can define those works as art without hesitation. By using many small parts, Burden created a huge sculpture, an area, and even a world. His works are a journey of self-consciousness. Who am I? What do I want to do? What is art for me? How do I reflect on my works? One thing make feel a little boring is the background music. Though this documentary has a few background music, I am the kind of person expecting more background music while watching a documentary. Just a personal view.

Burden is a polarizing figure, and admittedly your enjoyment of this film depends on it. It's a relatively simple piece, and it doesn't really get as interrogative as I'd like. It's too afraid to actually challenge the subject, and thus loses the chance to actually tear into one of the most prolific modern American artist. It's a puff piece, but in the nonstop puffing, it inadvertently makes Burden look dumber and more bitter than I think they intended. He comes off as a man who spent his early years pushing the boundaries as hard as he could, yet seems baffled why people inspired by him push boundaries. He also seems like he knew he could never escape the label "that guy who shot himself that one time" but they don't add to that conversation. It'd be interesting to go into how it feels to have your defining piece be an unintentional act of self-harm, but they don't really talk about it.

From a film perspective this might as well be made by an actual child. It's an incredibly paint by numbers set up, which is mildly ironic considering how the subject matter makes a point of being unconventional. It's banal, stereotypical, and most of all predictable in its construction. It even has a title-over-a-montage-of-news-hardcut-to-subject-walking-through-calm-nature sequence, like it's amateur hour or something. Embarrassing.

Overall, it's a film that you'll only enjoy if you're up for Burden puff piece. There's nothing in the film construction itself to endear itself. Its a movie about that guy who shot himself that one time, your opinion of the movie will depend on that.

Burden (2016) opened my eyes because I haven't really watched too many documentaries/movies about artists. I don't find these documentaries that appealing to me. This one, however, opened my eyes to how much someone can change art entirely. Chris Burden experimented with the human body and art which I found most intriguing. Not many artists are truly willing to push their own bodies to the limit when it comes to a subject such as art. When I was watching this I was excited to learn and watch some of the performances. This gave me a David Blaine feel with Burden's Trans-Fixed piece when he was nailed on to a Volkswagon as well as, him getting shot in the arm. David Blaine experiments with ice picks going through his body as well as catching bullets through his mouth but he calls it "magic." Burden puts on these similar performances and calls them "art."

First of, I am not a professional Artist. I have a daughter who is and some relatives who are.

I am not at all crazy about the Jack Ass movie series but as I watched this I can see he is brilliant in his own way. It was like watching the people that make that type of movie explain themselves in a rational and logical way.

I thought his idea that the sculpture itself might not need to be the art but what it does to the folks around them or how it makes them feel can be the art. I would agree with that.

I made me think which is what I appreciated the most I guess. A must watch? Probably not unless you are into art possibly.

Burden After watching the documentary, I find that Chris burden was an innovator of art. He has double side of personality. A crazy part of him likes to challenge the concept of art. He was using his body as the most impactful tools. He viewed himself as an art piece more than a person. So, he could abandon the limitation of being a human in modern society. He challenged moral, psychical pain, social orders, fear, anger and shame. He was so aggressively trying to experiments and exposes those human weakness to everyone. I could feel so much unsecure and threating in his performance arts. In fact, those negative emotion influenced him and brought craziness to him. He took hard drugs and carrying and firing a UZI all the time and viewed those behavior as arts. People around him are afraid of him because of his instability. He did, he finally brutally defeated those art critics and redefined the concepts of arts. Those who are viewed him as a clown were finally silenced because how philosophical and emotional Chris Burden's arts could bring to them. In fact, the other side, He proved he has talents on traditional art forms too. In fact, Chris burden never get out of his control. From the beginning to the end, he was always thinking as a sculptor. His goal was not going to really hurt himself but creating a moment of thinking. All his harmful performance arts were well prepared. When he lost his craziness in his late age, He was starting creating those great installations. Actually his works are all connected.