Highly controversial, both Chris Burden and Mark Pauline are
timeless, because controversy of course leads to timelessness. Take Chris
Burden’s “Transfixed” as a prime example. Someone will always and forever have
a problem with a man being crucified for the public’s viewing pleasure, whether
it be now or even a hundred years from now. I agree with WTF Art History’s suggestion that
perhaps Transfixed could have just been a cry for attention, none the less
Chris Burden leaves a permanent image in many viewers minds, leading him to be
a name they will never forget.
It seems Mark Pauline has many things in common with Burden.
Crying out for attention and to be a known name that people won’t soon forget
seems to be what he does best. A very controversial piece is titled “Area
Nightclub Show 1985/ Survival Research Laboratories” is an example of this cry.
A fire spitting metal spider, a poster of the 1961 assassination of a Japanese socialist
leader, and cow’s blood?? What does all this have in common except being in
shock and acquiring attention. Pauline told People magazine back in May of
1985, that this piece was “his reaction to all this other art around us” and
that “we see ourselves as professional pains in the asses”. Both Burden and
Pauline want to brainwash us all!
Although
both artist have similar means of getting attention…by shocking their audience
so that they can never forget who they are, I am sure very opposing reasons are
their driving forces. It also looks like some of Burden’s later work has
livened up so to speak. Perhaps he is in a very different era or stage in his
life right now. Metropolis II epitomizes life moving ever so quickly, time
never stopping…another use of timelessness. Another piece entitled “Big Wheel” goes
into innovation, and technology. Burden must be coming into the light of a new
era, an era of progress, while Mark Pauline might just want to always be
remembered for his shocking ways.
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