UL2 on Flickr.
Chris Burden’s “Urban Light” installed on the sidewalk in front of LACMA has been one of LA’s favorite and most photographed landmarks since its unveiling in February 2008. The piece incorporates 202 antique street lights from cities and neighborhoods in and around Los Angeles.
It makes me sad that this bland, boring sculpture has become the “face” of Chris Burden’s work. Works like “Shoot Piece”—which took place in Orange County!—are of debatable aesthetic value, but that kind of body-risking performance gave the art of that era consequences. Something was being risked! Things (life! limbs!) were at stake! Even Burden’s late-era double-sided money prints retained an echo of that risky, no-bullshit attitude.
And now? Now tourists line up in front of a bunch of fucking lamp posts to have their photo taken. Burden has been reduced to a visual shorthand for L.A.—and a skim-milk signifier for the city at that.
(via tumblangeles)
