Chris Burden Extreme Measures

About this book

Chris Burden (b. 1946) is one of the most important artists of our time. In his over four-decade career, he has consistently challenged physical and psychological limits, redefining art in the process. This catalogue includes ten essays and personal reflections by noted art historians, artists, and writers who explore the significance and influence of his practice, and is published on the occasion of the exhibition "Chris Burden: Extreme Measures" at the New Museum-the artists first solo museum exhibition in New York and the first US survey of his work in over twenty years. As a student in Southern California in the early 1970's, Burden indelibly wrote himself into art history and popular consciousness with a series of performances in which he used his own body as subject and medium. From these epoch-defining works to the monumental sculptures he has constructed since the late 70's, he has continuously embodied cultural reflection, risk, and reinvention. This long-overdue book and exhibition reveal the life's work of a great artist whose emergence at once destabilized and reaffirmed convictions about art, and who has never relented in pushing art beyond its boundaries to new extremes.