Chris Burden
L.A.P.D. Uniform, 1993
Created in response to the 1992 Los Angeles riots, L.A.P.D. Uniform
alludes not only to the violence of that landmark incident, but also to the
power of the police to inflict violence as well as to protect us from it.
Burden frequently employs a radical change of scale, using toys or toy-like
objects to stand in as symbols of actual or potential destruction. In
L.A.P.D. Uniform, he seizes our attention with 30 reproductions of an
enlarged version of a police uniform. The uniform, made for an officer
seven-feet, four-inches tall, includes a badge, a baton, and an actual gun.
The number, size and forms of this piece allows the work to retain powerful
meanings even when divorced from its original context. The viewer becomes
child-size, disempowered, and vulnerable. Or are we protected and shielded?
Chris Burden, L.A.P.D. Uniform, 1993.
Wool, metal, leather, wood and plastic. 88 x 72 x 6".
Created in collaboration with The Fabric Workshop and Museum.
Photo: Will Brown
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