Burden was born in 1946 in Boston, the eldest of three children. His father was an engineering professor at Harvard. At the age of thirteen Burden took up photography as a serious hobby. In 1969 he received his B.F.A. from Pamona College in Claremont, CA. He started out as an architecture student but later changed his major to sculpture because, as he said: “When I design something, I can’t wait to see it.”(People Weekly). In 1971 he received his M.F.A. from the University of California, Irving. It was during his graduate studies at UCI in 1970 that he first began attracting the attention of his peers. He locked himself in a locker for seven days with five gallons of water suspended in the locker above him. (Horvitz). Burden continued doing performance art such as this until 1983. In 1983, after realizing

The Big Wheel is one of Burden’s most impressive installations. This piece involves a three-ton cast iron suspended wheel, which, after being revved up by a motorcycle attached to it, can spin for three hours at a time at 200 R.P.M. (Art Book). This work produces an intense, uneasy feeling from the idea that such a powerful force could easily break free and send 6,000 pounds of iron flying through the gallery.

Burden continued to utilize the popular conception of brutality as a means to shock with his 1974 work entitled Transfixed. For this piece he nailed himself to the back of a Volkswagen Beetle in the crucifix position while other local artists took turns driving him around town. (Horvitz). Though the image was disturbing for those who witnessed it, Burden took great effort in using thin, sharp nails and felt very little pain. (People Weekly 55). With Transfixed, Burden was attempting to connect the ideas of consumerism and faith by combining the religiously significant act with an emblem of popular culture.

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