Chris Burden Ode to Santos-Dumont Poster

To celebrate what would have been Chris Burden's 75th birthday this year, the Chris Burden Estate released this non-numbered (but limited print run) poster to celebrate his oeuvre and life.  It is based on a collage of Ode to Santos-Dumont. Ode to Santos-Dumont (2015) was Burden's last completed work, which was presented at LACMA in 2015. 

Inspired by Brazilian-born pioneer aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont, widely considered the father of aviation in France, the kinetic airship sculpture was completed after a decade of research and work by Burden.

The highly balanced and refined mechanism—modeled after Santos-Dumont’s 1901 dirigible that flew around the Eiffel Tower—achieves indoor flight in 15-minute intervals throughout the day. An examination of weight and gravity, the work is powered by a quarter-scale version of a 1903 De Dion gasoline motor handcrafted by machinist and inventor John Biggs. Ode to Santos Dumont offers a palpable and emotional expression of the density of air, gravity, and energy required to move about in our earthly environment.

Poster: 18 x 24 inches