BUNNY BURSON Consequences
bruno david gallery
BUNNY BURSON: Consequences May 25 - June 30, 2007 Bruno David Gallery 3721 Washington Boulevard Saint Louis, 63108 Missouri, U.S.A. info@brunodavidgallery.com www.brunodavidgallery.com Director: Bruno L. David This catalogue was published in conjunction with the exhibition Bunny Burson: Consequences Editor: Bruno L. David Catalog Designer: Yoko Kiyoi Design Assistants: Sage A. David and Claudia R. David Printed in USA All works courtesy of Bruno David Gallery and Bunny Burson Cover Image: Bunny Burson. 537 (detail), 2007 15 feet x 6 inches x 3-1/2 inches (4.57 m x 15.24 cm x 8.89 cm) Plaster, ink and blood (537 elements) Edition of 2 Copyright Š 2007 Bruno David Gallery, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of Bruno David Gallery, Inc.
Contents
Article by Scott Horton Afterword by Bruno L. David Artist’s Statement Checklist of the Exhibition Biography
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Article by Scott Horton 2
Bunny Burson, who was raised in Tennessee, but today lives in St Louis, is passionate about politics. “I believe it’s essential to our society and to our lives. Voting is important. When people don’t vote, and when votes aren’t cast, it can have terrible consequences for all of us.” Burson says she was always interested in politics; she grew up with it. But her real coming of age occurred in the turbulent year of 1968. “I was an exchange student that year, in France. Things didn’t go quite the way I imagined. They exploded, and I was in the middle of it.” She described the experience as an “awakening.” “I was politically active from that point. I never stopped.” But Burson pursued a career in the graphic arts, completing an undergraduate degree at Tulane University and then an M.F.A. at Washington University in St. Louis. Still, one election was a personal and a national trauma, says Burson. “It was 2000. I was deeply involved in the campaign and during the recount, given everything that had happened plus the added friendship with the Gores, I felt as if I were in the center of the storm.” Most of her series in fact revolves around the events of the the 2000 election and the ultimate Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Gore that halted the recount and put George W. Bush in the Oval Office, rather than the candidate favored by Burson, fellow Tennessean Al Gore, who drew a half million more votes than his opponent. In “Stain 2” the outcome of the election is laid at the doorstep of the Supreme Court, and particularly Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Burson recounts that she attended a presentation by O’Connor at Washington University recently at which a questioner asked the retired justice whether she had ever made a decision she regretted? She responded with a “no.” The questioner pressed: “Not even Bush v. Gore?” And Justice O’Connor said that it was important always to look forward and never to look back.
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“That irritated me,” Burson said. “Actions have consequences, and people need to take responsibility for what they’ve done. The Supreme Court’s decision in Bush v. Gore undercut our democracy. And that led me to produce ‘Stain 1 and 2,’ I took the graceful lace ascots of the sort for which Sandra Day O’Connor was famous, and treated them with a red stain for O’Connor’s partisan vote in the case. I also put bits of chad in the lace as a touch of humor and to provide some historical context.” “537” refers to the margin of victory that George W. Bush achieved in Florida as a result of the decision to stop counting the votes. But the work points to the consequences that flowed from that action as well, the disastrous invasion and occupation of Iraq. “My artistic intent is to show the consequences of the flawed election in Florida by mocking the Iraqi vote with the blood (the red dye was taken from my own blood) being shed in its name.” When Iraqis voted to adopt their constitution, the index finger of each Iraqi who voted was tinged with a purple dye to reflect the fact that a vote had been cast. “I metaphorically applied this same process to the vote in Florida, using both red and blue dye to mark the voter preferences. It was a reminder that the voters who picked Bush were putting us on the path to a war against Iraq. The origins of the tragedy in Iraq were in the precincts of Florida, and in the suspended vote counting process.” Burson says that once word got around about her project she had lots of volunteers. “People were eager to have their index finger cast for inclusion in the piece.” “For ‘Turbulence 2000,’ I imagined the recount as a storm overwhelming Florida and the nation. I used hurricanes, tornados and tsunamis as my metaphors in a series of large monoprints on handmade paper. I created the storms from 2000 election chad. To inject a touch of humor into these dark events I imbedded images of the cast of characters in my work. Being tossed about in the storms are Katherine Harris, Jeb Bush, Al Gore, Karl Rove, Justices O’Connor and Scalia, John Bolton and James Baker.” The actual materials used in the voting process figure regularly in the works in Burson’s exhibition. One work in particular turns to the actual ballots as its basis.
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“For ‘Powerful Consequences 2,’ I created a series of unique objects depicting ballots. Between pieces of plexi cut to the size of a ballot, there are layers of prints and digital imagery, which include an actual punch card ballot and maps of Florida and Iraq. There are butterflies, caricatures of the personalities involved, and chad collaged between them to emphasize the powerful consequences of the vote. With the Supreme Court set to rule on the validity of photo ID laws for voters, my concerns about impediments to casting votes continue to resonate. As the next presidential election year approaches, and with it the earliest presidential primaries the country has ever witnessed, the issues portrayed in Burson’s work are back in the news. Voter ID programs, “caging,” and “black box voting” issues continue to be in the headlines. And no one dismissed the possibility of another election decided in the Supreme Court. — Scott Horton
First published on November 27, 2007 in Harper’s Magazine. Printed by permission of Harper’s Magazine. Harper’s Magazine is an American journal of literature, politics, culture, and the arts published from 1850. © The Harper’s Magazine Foundation. All rights reserved. Link: http:// www.harpers.org/archive/2007/11/hbc-90001769
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Afterwords by Bruno L. David 6
I am pleased to exhibit a new series of work by Bunny Burson at the Bruno David Gallery. Support for the creation of significant new works of art has been the core to the mission and program of the Bruno David Gallery since its founding. Bunny Burson’s remarkable and compelling work makes her one the most impressive artist of the gallery. Bunny Burson’s new work focuses on the consequences of the presidential election of 2000. The number of votes separating Bush and Gore in Florida inspired the installation piece, “537”, and questions not only the decision by the Bush administration to go to war but whether the semblance of Iraqi elections justifies the bloodshed of the last 4 years. A series of unique prints addresses Sandra Day O’Connor’s active participation in a partisan majority’s decision to halt the Florida vote count, a stain on an otherwise respected legacy.. Bunny Burson received her M.F.A from Washington University in Saint Louis (Now Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts), B.F.A. from Memphis College of Art, Memphis, TN, and a B.A from Tulane University, New Orleans, LA. She has also studied Art History at the Université Paris-Sorbonne, Paris, France. — Bruno L. David
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Artist’s statement 8
Bunny Burson’s goals are to inform, advocate and elucidate. Her prior works of chad storms sought to highlight the protagonists and antagonists of the 2000 election and the turbulence that characterized the Florida recount. In this current exhibition she continues to comment on the 2000 results but then moves on to focus on the consequences. In “Stains” the election outcome is referenced in the vote of the Supreme Court to halt the Florida recount. The artist uses graceful lace ascots, mimicking those worn by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. The blush red stain on each disturbs the otherwise pristine image and casts her partisan vote in Bush v. Gore as a blot on her acclaimed legacy. The bits of chad inject a touch of humor into the work and provide historical context. “537” continues to reference the 2000 results with 537 fingers which reflect the number of votes by which George W. Bush was certified the winner. However, this work moves beyond results and assaults the viewer with consequences--the chaos, death and toppled hopes of Iraq. When Iraqis, under the watchful eyes of their occupiers, voted to adopt their new constitution, the index finger of each Iraqi who voted was tinged with a purple dye to reflect their vote. It was photographed and published worldwide as the symbol of Iraqis establishing a democracy from the ashes of war. The artist turns this symbol of hope into an entirely different statement. By painting the tips of the fingers with her own blood and through their rubble like configuration, she mocks this failed effort and its sad consequences. The election of 2000 will always stand as a painful reminder that elections matter.
— Bunny Burson
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Checklist of the Exhibition and Images
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537 (detail), 2007
Plaster, ink and blood 15 feet x 6 inches x 3-1/2 inches (4.57 m x 15.24 cm x 8.89 cm) (variable dimensions) 12
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537, 2007
Plaster, ink and blood 15 feet x 6 inches x 3-1/2 inches (4.57 m x 15.24 cm x 8.89 cm) (variable dimensions) 14
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537 (detail), 2007
Plaster, ink and blood 15 feet x 6 inches x 3-1/2 inches (4.57 m x 15.24 cm x 8.89 cm) (variable dimensions) 16
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537 (detail), 2007
Plaster, ink and blood 15 feet x 6 inches x 3-1/2 inches (4.57 m x 15.24 cm x 8.89 cm) (variable dimensions) 18
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537 (detail), 2007
Plaster, ink and blood 15 feet x 6 inches x 3-1/2 inches (4.57 m x 15.24 cm x 8.89 cm) (variable dimensions) 20
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537 (detail), 2007
Plaster, ink and blood 15 feet x 6 inches x 3-1/2 inches (4.57 m x 15.24 cm x 8.89 cm) (variable dimensions) 22
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STAIN 6, 2007
monotype, pencil and ink on paper 22 x 17.5 inches (55.88 x 44.45 cm) 24
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STAIN 5, 2007
monotype, pencil and ink on paper 22 x 20 inches (55.88 x 50.80 cm) 26
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STAIN 3, 2007
monotype, pencil and ink on paper 22 x 17.5 inches (55.88 x 44.45 cm) 28
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STAIN 2, 2007
monotype, pencil and ink on paper 22 x 17.5 inches (55.88 x 44.45 cm) 30
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STAIN 4, 2007
monotype, pencil and ink on paper 22 x 17.5 inches (55.88 x 44.45 cm) 32
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STAIN 1, 2007
monotype, pencil and ink on paper 35 x 22 inches (88.90 x 55.88 cm) 34
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Category Three, 2007 Chads, Rhoplex and resin on board 31.75 x 24 x inches (80.64 x 60.96 cm) 36
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Category Four, 2007 Chads, Rhoplex and resin on board 31.75 x 24 x inches (80.64 x 60.96 cm) 38
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Perfect Storm 1, 2007-08
Chads, Rhoplex and resin on board 12 x 12 x 1.5 inches 40
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Turbulence2000, 2007
Monoprint with chads amd mixed media on handmade paper 42 x 62 inches (106.68 x 157.48 cm) 42
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Consequences 1-2-3-4-5, 2007 mixed media with chads 10.75 x 3.25 inches (27.30 x 8.25 cm) each 44
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Bunny Burson: Consequences at Bruno David Gallery, 2007(installation view - detail) 46
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Bunny Burson: Consequences at Bruno David Gallery, 2007(installation view - detail) 48
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Bunny Burson: Consequences at Bruno David Gallery, 2007(installation view - detail) 50
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BUNNY BURSON American, Born in Memphis Lives and works in St. Louis, Missouri
EDUCATION M.F.A B.F.A B.A.
2005, Printmaking, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 1981, Printmaking, Memphis College of Art, Memphis, TN 1970, French, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 1968-69, Art History, Université Paris-Sorbonne, Paris, France
SELECTED ONE-PERSON EXHIBITIONS 2007 2005 1982
Bruno David Gallery, CONSEQUENCES, Saint Louis, Missouri. MFA Thesis Exhibition, Des Lee Gallery, St. Louis, MO UP Gallery, Bunny Burson, Memphis, TN
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2007 2004 1981
Overview, Bruno David Gallery, Saint Louis, MO Politics of Power, B.A.G. Gallery, Brooklyn, New York On Paper, Bruno David Gallery, Saint Louis, Missouri Smaller is Better, Schiltkamp Gallery, Clark University Worcester, MA Rivulet, Bruno David Gallery, Saint Louis, Missouri Group Show, Saint Mary’s College Gallery, Notre Dame, Indiana Group Show, Southern Illinois University Gallery, Carbondale, IL Group Show, Memphis College of Art Gallery, Memphis, TN
BIBLIOGRAPHY Horton, Scott.
“Elections as Art”, HARPER’S Magazine, November 27, 2007
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ARTISTS Margaret Adams Dickson Beall Laura Beard Elaine Blatt Martin Brief Lisa K. Blatt Shawn Burkard Bunny Burson Carmon Colangelo Alex Couwenberg Jill Downen Yvette Drury Dubinsky Corey Escoto
Beverly Fishman Damon Freed William Griffin Joan Hall Takashi Horisaki Kim Humphries Kelley Johnson Howard Jones (Estate) Chris Kahler Bill Kohn (Estate) Leslie Laskey Sandra Marchewa Peter Marcus
Patricia Olynyk Robert Pettus Daniel Raedeke Chris Rubin de la Borbolla Frank Schwaiger Charles Schwall Christina Shmigel Thomas Sleet Buzz Spector Lindsey Stouffer Mario Trejo Cindy Tower Ken Worley
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