Tom Burrow’s "Sculpture of Concrete, Sculpture of Dreams" or, looking for the utopian in the everyday
The plethora of Utopian ideas that circulated in North America and Europe in the 1960's and 1970's emerged in the work of Vancouver artist Tom Burrows. Utopianisms formed objectives for much of the social and political activism throughout the period, compelling Burrows to incorpora...
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ndltd-UBC-oai-circle.library.ubc.ca-2429-58292018-01-05T17:32:46Z Tom Burrow’s "Sculpture of Concrete, Sculpture of Dreams" or, looking for the utopian in the everyday Anderson, Andrea Karin The plethora of Utopian ideas that circulated in North America and Europe in the 1960's and 1970's emerged in the work of Vancouver artist Tom Burrows. Utopianisms formed objectives for much of the social and political activism throughout the period, compelling Burrows to incorporate them into his artistic practice. Chapter One, The Utopian Moment, describes the most powerful Utopian ideas circulating in Vancouver at the time, their uneasy alignments and overt contradictions. Although contradictory, they were still instructive; and many artists responded with socially and politically charged art. In Chapter Two, The Utopian in Art, I contextualize Burrows' work with that of other artists whose ambitions were similar. Chapters Three and Four demonstrate Burrows' conflicted position by presenting two views of his work on the Maplewood Mudflats. In Chapter Three, The Mudflats as Utopian Ladscape, characterize this work as "useless" and romantic, as part of the 'aesthetic dimension' defined by Frankfurt School critical theory. Chapter Four, The Most Beautiful Sculpture, foregrounds the activist aspect of Burrows' work on the flats. This dialectic of beauty and utility informs Burrows' work throughout the period, from the participatory Sand Pile installation to the aestheticism of the sculpture comprising the Temptations of Mao Tse-Tung exhibition and the anti-aestheticism of the Squat Doc[ument]. The Squat Doc was a Utopian view of squatted and self-help housing at several sites in Europe, Africa and Asia. It is the subject of Chapter Five, The Everyday Utopia of Squatting. Burrows' conflicting and shifting positions were not limited to his own practice, but representative of artistic practices at the time. I want to demonstrate that Burrows' was among the most committed to fundamental change in art and society in this period. Arts, Faculty of Art History, Visual Art and Theory, Department of Graduate 2009-03-10T17:25:24Z 2009-03-10T17:25:24Z 1997 1997-05 Text Thesis/Dissertation http://hdl.handle.net/2429/5829 eng For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. 27933963 bytes application/pdf |
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The plethora of Utopian ideas that circulated in North America
and Europe in the 1960's and 1970's emerged in the work of
Vancouver artist Tom Burrows. Utopianisms formed objectives for
much of the social and political activism throughout the period,
compelling Burrows to incorporate them into his artistic
practice. Chapter One, The Utopian Moment, describes the most powerful
Utopian ideas circulating in Vancouver at the time, their uneasy
alignments and overt contradictions. Although contradictory, they
were still instructive; and many artists responded with socially
and politically charged art. In Chapter Two, The Utopian in Art,
I contextualize Burrows' work with that of other artists whose
ambitions were similar. Chapters Three and Four demonstrate Burrows' conflicted
position by presenting two views of his work on the Maplewood
Mudflats. In Chapter Three, The Mudflats as Utopian Ladscape,
characterize this work as "useless" and romantic, as part of the
'aesthetic dimension' defined by Frankfurt School critical
theory. Chapter Four, The Most Beautiful Sculpture, foregrounds
the activist aspect of Burrows' work on the flats. This dialectic
of beauty and utility informs Burrows' work throughout the
period, from the participatory Sand Pile installation to the
aestheticism of the sculpture comprising the Temptations of Mao
Tse-Tung exhibition and the anti-aestheticism of the Squat
Doc[ument]. The Squat Doc was a Utopian view of squatted and
self-help housing at several sites in Europe, Africa and Asia. It
is the subject of Chapter Five, The Everyday Utopia of Squatting.
Burrows' conflicting and shifting positions were not limited
to his own practice, but representative of artistic practices at
the time. I want to demonstrate that Burrows' was among the most
committed to fundamental change in art and society in this
period. === Arts, Faculty of === Art History, Visual Art and Theory, Department of === Graduate |
author |
Anderson, Andrea Karin |
spellingShingle |
Anderson, Andrea Karin Tom Burrow’s "Sculpture of Concrete, Sculpture of Dreams" or, looking for the utopian in the everyday |
author_facet |
Anderson, Andrea Karin |
author_sort |
Anderson, Andrea Karin |
title |
Tom Burrow’s "Sculpture of Concrete, Sculpture of Dreams" or, looking for the utopian in the everyday |
title_short |
Tom Burrow’s "Sculpture of Concrete, Sculpture of Dreams" or, looking for the utopian in the everyday |
title_full |
Tom Burrow’s "Sculpture of Concrete, Sculpture of Dreams" or, looking for the utopian in the everyday |
title_fullStr |
Tom Burrow’s "Sculpture of Concrete, Sculpture of Dreams" or, looking for the utopian in the everyday |
title_full_unstemmed |
Tom Burrow’s "Sculpture of Concrete, Sculpture of Dreams" or, looking for the utopian in the everyday |
title_sort |
tom burrow’s "sculpture of concrete, sculpture of dreams" or, looking for the utopian in the everyday |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/5829 |
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