Artist Chris Burden dies at 69

Mary Bruno

Mary Bruno Jun 28, 2025

Feb 6, 2018

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                <h1>Artist Chris Burden dies at 69</h1>
                <h2><p>Burden came to the attention of the many as a performance artist willing to shoot himself and crawl over glass for his art. He went on, said the Washington Post, to create "sculptures that ranged from elaborate working machines to iconic monuments." His last piece “Ode to Santos-Dumont”</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/mary-bruno-crosscut-com/">Mary Bruno</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
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            <p>Burden came to the attention of the many as a performance artist willing to shoot himself and crawl over glass for his art. He went on, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2015/05/10/artist-chris-burden-once-nailed-to-a-car-later-creator-of-iconic-los-angeles-sculpture-dies-at-69/?wprss=rss_style&ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">said the <em>Washington Post</em></a>, to create "sculptures that ranged from elaborate working machines to iconic monuments." His last piece “Ode to Santos-Dumont”, will go on display at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on May 18. Burden died on Sunday of malignant melanoma. He was 69.</p>
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Burden came to the attention of the many as a performance artist willing to shoot himself and crawl over glass for his art. He went on, said the Washington Post, to create "sculptures that ranged from elaborate working machines to iconic monuments." His last piece “Ode to Santos-Dumont”, will go on display at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on May 18. Burden died on Sunday of malignant melanoma. He was 69.

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By Mary Bruno

Mary was Crosscut's Editor-in-Chief and Interim Publisher. In more than 25 years as a journalist, she has worked as a writer, editor and editorial director for a variety of print and web publications,