Artist Chris Burden goes to 'Extreme Measures' at the New Museum in New York
Twenty-five years is a long time to wait for a major retrospective on home turf, but for American artist Chris Burden, the delay appears to be well worth it. The pioneering artist, who has enjoyed a prolific career spanning 40 years, is the centre of a major exhibition 'Extreme Measures' at New York's New Museum, quarter of a decade since his last big US show. Bringing together an extensive collection of past and present works that encompass sculpture, video, performance and installation, the exhibition is an inspiring homage to the enigmatic artist and is set to throw him back into the fore.
Taking over all of the New Museum's five floors, 'Extreme Measures' is a demonstration of Burden's dexterity in working with different media. From kinetic sculptures like 'The Big Wheel' from 1979, which consists of a three-ton spinning flywheel powered by a 1968 Benelli 250cc motorcycle, to the performance piece 'Beam Drop' and its iterations in more recent works like 'Inhotim' and 'Antwerp' - all see 60 steel I-beams dropped into an excavation site filled with wet cement from over 100 feet high - the arresting works are powerful manifestations of Burden's thematic explorations, which touch on engineering, politics, authority and the military, among other themes.
While the kinetic works are undoubtedly dramatic, it is Burden's knack for installations that is truly wondrous. 'All the Submarines of the United States of America' from 1987, for example, comprises 625 miniature submarines hanging by thin microfilaments from the ceiling. Each cardboard model corresponds to every US Navy submarine launched from 1897 to the year it was created. Across the room, a sprawling diorama made up of five thousand toy robots, vehicles and figures depict two cities at war in a sandy, rocky landscape - again serving as critical commentary for military authority.
Burden's newly unveiled works - two intricate, yet mammoth depictions of bridges made from concrete and Mysto Type I Erector parts respectively - also make the most of this life-like quality. Both constructions spread comfortably hinting back at Burden's study of architecture back in college.
Capping off the show (literally) is another installation on top of the New Museum building. Twin aluminium-frame skyscrapers, resembling the World Trade Centre towers and weighing 8,100 lbs each, stand majestically on the building's room, proving that time has done little to quell Burden's ambitious spirit. For that, we are grateful.
ADDRESS
New Museum
235 Bowery
New York 10002
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Pei-Ru Keh is a former US Editor at Wallpaper*. Born and raised in Singapore, she has been a New Yorker since 2013. Pei-Ru held various titles at Wallpaper* between 2007 and 2023. She reports on design, tech, art, architecture, fashion, beauty and lifestyle happenings in the United States, both in print and digitally. Pei-Ru took a key role in championing diversity and representation within Wallpaper's content pillars, actively seeking out stories that reflect a wide range of perspectives. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children, and is currently learning how to drive.
-
Silent running: Lightship’s AE.1 electric Travel Trailer makes its debut as the Cosmos Edition
All-American RV start-up Lightship has launched its first production edition, the AE.1 Cosmos Edition. We take a tour of this electrified home from home
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Dyne is a New York jewellery brand fusing fluid forms with futuristic flair
Dyne embraces striking materials and silhouettes for very modern jewellery
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Indian furniture brand SĀR Studio is putting Pune on the map with a new flagship and residency programme
SĀR Residence, a multi-use concept space, acts as an extension of the Indian furniture brand
By Laura May Todd Published
-
Inside Luna Luna: the amusement park designed by artists lands in New York
‘Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy’ – featuring rides by Basquiat, Lichtenstein, Hockney, Haring, and Dalí – has opened at The Shed
By Osman Can Yerebakan Published
-
Henni Alftan’s paintings frame everyday moments in cinematic renditions
Concurrent exhibitions in New York and Shanghai celebrate the mesmerising mystery in Henni Alftan’s paintings
By Osman Can Yerebakan Published
-
Brutalism in film: the beautiful house that forms the backdrop to The Room Next Door
The Room Next Door's production designer discusses mood-boarding and scene-setting for a moving film about friendship, fragility and the final curtain
By Anne Soward Published
-
'There’s an anxiety under all of it': Violet Dennison in New York
Violet Dennison debuts abstract paintings with new show 'Damaged Self' at Tara Downs Gallery
By Mary Cleary Published
-
‘Gas Tank City’, a new monograph by Andrew Holmes, is a photorealist eye on the American West
‘Gas Tank City’ chronicles the artist’s journey across truck-stop America, creating meticulous drawings of fleeting moments
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Mark Armijo McKnight’s bodily landscapes capture the tactile serenity of the American West
The artist’s new exhibition at the Whitney Museum, which is organised by the museum curator Drew Sawyer, offers a succinct window into his contemplative suggestion of queering a landscape
By Osman Can Yerebakan Published
-
Dark, glamorous and hedonistic: a photography book captures New York in the 1990s
New York: High Life, Low Life, by Dafydd Jones, goes behind the scenes of New York society
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Derrick Alexis Coard’s portraits are a sensitive, positive testimony to Black men
The late artist Derrick Alexis Coard’s retrospective ‘I Am That I Am’, at New York’s Salon 94, honours his ‘symbolic expression for possible change for the African-American male community’
By Tianna Williams Published