Burden

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."

This film leaves me wondering exactly how I feel about Chris Burden and his art. It's definitely split into what I would say three parts. The first is Chris' beginnings- how he experimented with art, how he challenged people's views of art, and how his work was viewed. This early version of Chris makes me wary, but I really enjoyed his experimentation with art. While parts made me uncomfortable or anxious, (such as him nearly setting himself on fire, getting shot, letting people decide if they would electrocute him or not, and even nailing himself to a car) I still enjoyed thinking about the concepts behind his work. A lot of his early work left me feeling anxious, but not entirely uncomfortable with what he was exploring. The film does a fantastic job at making Chris seem level headed and cautious with his potentially dangerous stunts. The narrative shows him as someone who was creative, innovative, and mostly just misunderstood by those who didn't like his art. However, once Chris became big, the film portrayed him as almost maniacal. I was especially uncomfortable while watching the film when his extremely dangerous performances were being discussed. Notably, the interview where he held a knife to the woman's neck and threatened to kill her. This left me almost overcome with anxiety. As an artist, Burden definitely took it way too far when he did that. I can understand putting himself through physical or emotional pain for his art, but I will not stand for him putting another person in harm's way. Even if he was acting the entire time, the amount of trauma from that experience that still follows that woman is evident. The film shows him as a crazy man, angry and on a lot of drugs. It captures what I can only assume his mindset was like. However, as it shifts towards the later years of his life, the film makes another turn, making Chris seem like a sensible, level-headed artist that just wants to bring joy with his art. It's a complete 180 from where he was before with his big truck and machine gun. I really, REALLY adore Burden's late work. His art serves the public, completely for free. His art encompasses what I feel like art should do- bring innovation, creativity, and joy all together and make something beautiful. He does this really well with Metropolis (the toy race car piece) and Urban Light (the lamp installation). Watching Metropolis made me smile, and it was something that was just really intriguing to watch happen. I had seen Urban Lights before in pictures, but I would have never thought that the same person who created that also crawled naked on broken glass or had someone shoot them in the arm. The film does an incredible job showing these stages of Burden's life, and how his attitudes towards creation changed throughout his life. Burden was innovative in his work, but his wide range of actions, both good and bad, makes me undecided about how I feel about him as an artist as a whole.

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.

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.

Chris Burden warped the world to his visions of performance art. While there were times of uncomfortability, there were times of great amusement and awe. Burden was a misunderstood man without a doubt. He had a way of seeing things in ways no one else did, whether that be a good thing or a bad thing. Being new to the performance art world, this documentary could scare you. Burden does things that in today's standard could have him considered to be put in a psych unit. However, I admire his ambition and bravery through it all. Chris Burden as a performance artist is intimidating to say the least, but Chris Burden as a sculpture artist is so warming. He has produced so many marvelous installations for the public to see. Burden changed the art world without even knowing what he was starting. While he did cause a lot of controversy, he still continued his work without censorship. His "pieces don't provide answers, they ask questions," is almost an understatement. Out of ten stars, I would rate this an eight out of ten. Personally, I found it very interesting to get a kind of behind-the-scenes with Chris Burden, because you don't always get to hear an artist describe their work and it means a lot to me to know. While the documentary has a heavy undertone of toxic masculinity, it shows who Chris Burden was, a blessing in disguise.