CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 5/11/2015

Chris Burden: 1946 – 2015

The pioneering Los Angeles artist and former head of UCLA's influential graduate art program died Sunday, May 10, of cancer. Featured image documents Burden's 1971 performance, "Prelude to 220, or 110." He described this piece in a 1974 notebook: "I was strapped to the floor with copper bands bolted into the concrete. Two buckets of water with live 110 lines submerged in them were placed near me. The piece was performed from 8-10 p.m. for three nights." In other pieces Burden also courted danger; the most famous was "Shoot" (1971), in which he had an assistant shoot him at close range, in the left arm, with a .22 hunting rifle. The cover of Locus + Publishing's exceptional 2005 monograph depicts Burden's 1974 piece, "Trans-Fixed", for which the artist lay face up on a Volkswagen Beetle and had his hands hammered to the car, as if crucified. He remained on the car for two minutes while the engined revved. The monograph Chris Burden will be available at our Frieze New York bookstore Wednesday evening, May 13, through Sunday evening.