The Sculpture

Location: South Campus in front of the Biology building

Date Installed: 2005

Medium: African Juparana granite

The Artist

Scott Burton first began his artistic career as a teenager attending the Washington Workshop of the Arts in the mid-1950s. Ten years later he was awarded a Master of Fine Arts degree from New York University in New York City. However, it wasn’t until the 1980’s that Burton became recognized as a sculptor. He first entered the art scene not as a creator but a critic and later editor for ARTnews, an American visual-arts magazine, and Art In America (1). To many he was viewed as rather unconventional for he “pursued his writing with humor and purpose, hoping to establish alternative positions from the dominating and normative critical positions” (2). Also at this time Burton was in a long term relationship with painter John Button, who introduced him to the performance art communities of New York. By the end of the 60’s Burton started creating performance art which typically centered around furniture he found abandoned on the streets of New York and was featured in the “Streetworks” event of 1969.

The neo-expressionism movement began in the 1970’s. Figurative paintings and sculpture were the primary focus of the time with an emphasis on the physicality of the pieces (3). This is the complete opposite of what Burton was doing. He was creating art that didn’t always appear to be art at first glance in a world where the “popular” art of the time could be easily recognized due to the use of vivid colors and abstract portrayals of the figure. Instead he wanted to diminish the boundaries that separated furniture and sculpture, turning them into one, which in turn challenged the line between the fine and decorative arts (4). Much of Burton’s work was intended to be functional, “Occupying that tenuous space between fine art and the everyday, functional art refers to aesthetic objects that serve utilitarian purposes” (5).  He blurred the lines between fine art and functional art with his construction of furniture, which mostly consisted on chairs carved from stone with the intent of having people interact directly with his work from all angles possible. Burton’s belief that art should “place itself not in front of, but around, behind, underneath (literally) the audience” (4) still holds true today.

Fortunately because his sculptures have a function and directly interact with the audience, he has permanent installations all over the country from Seattle, Cincinnati, New York City, and Portland. His installation of Two-Part Chairs, Right Angle Version (a Pair) 1987 pictured above was the inspiration for a performance piece that seems almost as a tribute to Burton himself as the two artists make their bodies one complete piece as the two pieces of stone do to create a complete work of art (6).

Current events of the 1980’s

  • Ronald Reagan Elected President
    • Ronald Reagan, the former Republican governor of California, beats President Jimmy Carter and independent candidate John B. Anderson, also a Republican, in a landslide victory, ousting the incumbent from office. The victory in the Electoral College, 489 to 49, as well as an 8 million vote margin in the popular vote over Carter, ensured a mandate for the new president.
  • Reaganomics in Action – Unemployment Soars
    • The highest unemployment rate since 1940 was recorded at 10.4%. By the end of November, over eleven million people would be unemployed.
  • Vietnam Veterans Memorial Commissioned
    • The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C., holding the names of the more than 58,000 killed or missing in action during the conflict.
  • The Decline of the Cold War
    • The first meeting in six years between the leaders of the Soviet Union and the United States occurs when Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan engage in a five hour summit conference in Geneva, Switzerland.
  • The Fall of the Berlin Wall
    • The Berlin Wall, after thirty-eight years of restricting traffic between the East and West German sides of the city, begins to crumble when German citizens are allowed to travel freely between East and West Germany for the first time. One day later, the influx of crowds around and onto the wall begin to dismantle it, thus ending its existence.

References

  1. “Scott Burton Papers in The Museum of Modern Art Archives Burton.” The Museum of Modern Art. N.p., 2008.
  2. David J. Getsy & Burton, Scott. “Scott Burton Collected Writings on Art & Performance, 1965–    1975.” Ed. David J. Getsy. Design Quarterly 122 (1983): 10. Soberscove Press Chicago, 2012. Web.
  3. Robertson, Jean, and Craig McDaniel. “Chapter 3 “Body”.” Themes of Contemporary Art: Visual Art after 1980. New York: Oxford UP, 2017. 103. Print.
  4. Smith, Roberta. “Scott Burton, Sculptor Whose Art Verged on Furniture, Is Dead at 50.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 31 Dec. 1989.
  5. Allenchey, Alex. “What Is Functional Art? (Or, Why Is That Switchblade on a Pedestal?).” Artspace. Artspace, 11 Apr. 2013.
  6. https://vimeo.com/195898264 link to the perforamce piece
  7. HowellREDM310. “World History – the 1980s Timeline.” Timetoast.

 

 

Post by Cassidy Henry and Taylor Kessler

Photographs taken by Cassidy Henry and Taylor Kessler