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THURSDAY JULY 14 2005 11:12 AM

Russian Roulette Artist Speaks

On November 29, 2004, Joseph Deutch, a graduate student in art at UCLA, created a piece of performance art. He stood in front of a group of his student peers and his teacher, performance artist Ron Athey, held what appeared to be a .357 Magnum to his head, and pulled the trigger, producing a clicking noise but no bullet. Immediately thereafter, Deutch fled the room. The students in the classroom heard a loud bang from the room's adjoining hallway. Then, Deutch returned to the classroom. As it turned out, according to Deutch, who speaks for the first time to the LA Times, the gun was a fake, one he had carved from wood--but, the fallout from his artwork was real. Ultimately, two art professors, Chris Burden and Nancy Rubins, suddenly retired after the University refused to suspend Deutch, deeming Deutch's performance art "domestic terrorism."

"The thing I hadn't counted on was Chris and Nancy freaking out to the extent they did."

Deutch said that he did not know Rubins and that he'd had only one substantial conversation with Burden, who oversaw instruction in new genres, the branch of the art department that includes performance art. Burden stopped doing performance art by the 1980s, having made a lasting mark with trailblazing work such as his 1971 piece "Shoot," in which an assistant, standing 15 feet away in a Santa Ana gallery, shot him in the upper arm with a .22-caliber rifle.

In 1972, Phyllis Lutjeans, a friend who hosted a cable TV show, invited Burden on the program. Without warning in a performance he dubbed "TV Hijack" he held her at knifepoint for several minutes.

"When Chris put the knife at my throat, I was absolutely terrified," Lutjeans recalled for The Times 20 years later. "I thought, 'This guy's psychotic.' "

Deutch said that although he was familiar with the history of performance art and Burden's place in it, his untitled Russian roulette piece was not intended as a response or allusion to the professor's early work.

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Comments

PointBlank

New York, NY

November 2004

JUL 14, 2005 11:28 AM

Chris Burden thinks someone else went too far? Holy shit, didn't he crucify himself to the hood of a VW?

Cassiel

Aurora, CO

September 2004

JUL 14, 2005 11:32 AM

art that can kill/hurt/maim?

that's art!

BlastProcessing

USA

OLD SKOOL

JUL 14, 2005 11:48 AM

"I make art until someone dies. But if someone else does...man, I'm out of here. That's not cool."

stellartrane

Austin, TX

February 2003

JUL 14, 2005 11:52 AM

He should have used a real gun and played a real game of Russian roulette.. now that would have been a performance art peice.

420NeverForget

Tarzana, CA

May 2005

JUL 14, 2005 12:02 PM

September 11, 2001, Live from New York, performance artist Osama Bin Laden presents: Oops!! The Masterpiece

also, reminded me of this video clip.

[Edited on Jul 14, 2005 12:03PM]

Curiosity

Chicago, IL

January 2004

JUL 14, 2005 12:23 PM

He still got an A- in the class.
Now that's good terrorism!

Curi.

ginawa

Newport, PA

May 2004

JUL 14, 2005 12:24 PM

the poor students

LizFitts

USA

May 2003

JUL 14, 2005 01:20 PM

I can only imagine Chris Burden was pissed that his work was being ripped off by some pussy grad student who carved his own fake gun (what craft!). Burden's piece "Shoot" (see above) is legendary & pretty brilliant. The student's piece sounds derivative at best, and stoopid at worst.

At least Burden has always had balls.