"Burden - A New Documentary Explores the Journey of an Artist," by Michael Rose, Huffington Post
Chris Burden, the enfant terrible of the Southern California performance art scene in the 1970s challenged assumptions, expectations and long held beliefs in the arts community from the moment he abandoned the notion of becoming an architect and veered at full speed into the arts program at the University of California's Irvine branch.
"Burden - Oddly Charming," by Danny Leigh, Financial Times
鈥淭ell you who you are if you nail me to my car,鈥 sang David Bowie on his 1977 track 鈥淛oe the Lion鈥, the 鈥渕e鈥 being the song鈥檚 inspiration, American performance artist Chris Burden. Now Burden is the subject of an oddly charming documentary about his interwoven, sometimes violent, life and art. The format in Burden is deceptively simple, built around interview and archive 鈥 fitting for someone so flawlessly deadpan.
"Burden review - persuasive look at art's 'Evel Knievel' - David Blaine," by Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
Chris Burden is the conceptual artists who started his career in the 70s as the dangerous situationist radical who didn't want art to be composed of objects to be bought and sold. He wanted a pure essence, a form that might come into being purely ephemerally, mysteriously, in performance art that challenged our sense of ourselves.
"Review: In 'Burden,' an Artist Who Is Tortured. Literally.," by Ken Jaworowski, The New York Times
Danger marked Chris Burden's art: He had himself shot, starved, kicked and crucified for his work. Strange, then, that "Burden," a documentary about this artist, plays it safe. This is a film unafraid to look at his acts, but timid when approaching his ideas.