Chris Burden‘s the ” What My Dad Gave Me” mock skyscraper at the Rockefeller Center is in the same genre as Electric Fountain in that its purpose is ambiguous and serves as reminder of the isolation and disconnect in much of modern living. The work was assembled entirely from replicas of Erector set pieces and was financed by the Public Art Fund. He has also known for ”Shoot”, where he is shot in the arm with a .22 caliber pistol, ”Transfixed” and ”Flying Steamroller” among other installations. It is art as long as Burden claims it is, or as institutions are willing to finance the exhibitions.
Chris Burden
The sensationalism aside, performance art has limited market and is unlikely to be found in someone’s home, though Burden is a talented artist with a deeply idiosyncratic aesthetic . Its also artwork that cannot be found other than in a deeply materialistic and consumeristic society. Its like the end-game of accumulation where the work can be measured by its weight and cost of execution. Einstein said that World War Four would be fought fought with sticks and stones, and hopefully beforehand the practice of art will return to its roots by painting on cave walls with pigments from fruit and flowers.
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