Burning Man: Art on Fire: Revised and Updated

Jennifer Raiser

Race Point Publishing, 2016 - Art - 256 pages

Experience the scorching art of Burning Man with this visual history.

Every August, tens of thousands of participants gather to celebrate artistic expression in Nevada's barren Black Rock Desert. This vastly inhospitable location, called the playa, is the site of Burning Man, where, within a 9-mile fence, artists called Burners create a temporary city devoted to art and participation. Braving extreme elements, artists create over two hundred wildly ambitious works intended to delight, provoke, involve, or amaze. In 2015, over 70,000 people attended -- the highest number ever allowed on the playa.

As Burning Man has created new context, new categories of art have emerged, including Art to Ride, Collaborative Art, and of course, Art to Burn. Burning Man: Art on Fire is an authorized collection of some of the most stunning examples of Burning Man art, now updated to include 2015. Experience the amazing sculptures, art, stories, and interviews from the world's greatest gathering of artists. Get lost in a rich gallery of images showcasing the best examples of playa art with over 200 photos. Interviews with the artists reveal not only their motivation to create art specifically for Burning Man, but they also illuminate the dramatic efforts it took to create their pieces. Featuring the incredible photography of long-time Burning Man photographers Sidney Erthal and Scott London, an introduction from Burning Man founder Larry Harvey, and a foreword from Will Chase, this stunning slipcased edition with a frameable print allows Burners and enthusiasts alike to have a piece of Burning Man with them all year around.

Contents

• FOREWORD BY WILL CHASE: 9
• INTRODUCTION BY LARRY HARVEY: 13
• PREFACE BY JENNIFER RAISER: 15
• ART TO AMAZE: 31
• MUTANT CRAZE: 69
• EVERYONE PLAYS: 111
• SILICON RAYS: 145
• ART TO PRAISE: 173
• ART ABLAZE: 213
• DISORIENT IN THE DESERT BY LEO VILLAREAL: 247
• ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS: 248
• INDEX: 250
• PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS: 253
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: 256

About the author

Jennifer Raiser is a writer, nonprofit leader, and Burner. Burning Man: Art on Fire (2014/2016/2023, Quarto/Epic Ink,) is a love letter to her happiest place on earth, Black Rock City. Known on playa as CocoCabana, she volunteers with the Black Rock Rangers and Gate, Perimeter, and Exodus departments; she has served as the Treasurer and Board Member of the nonprofit Burning Man Project since its founding. She is the author of In the Spirit of Napa Valley (2015, Assouline) and The Art of Being Bill: Bill Murray and the Many Faces of Awesome (2018, Quarto/Race Point Publishing), and has written extensively for the San Francisco Chronicle, Huffington Post, and numerous other publications. Previously, she founded Raiser Senior Services, managing luxury retirement communities as described in her book Designing Retirement Communities for the Future (1998, John Wiley and Sons). She has gratefully served on thirteen nonprofit boards. She earned both a BA in English Literature and an MBA from Harvard University. A San Francisco native, she lives near the Presidio with a superabundance of pets, books, and costumes. Sidney Erthal has had his camera poised for the past seven Burns which is how Burning Man aficionados carbon-date their experience with the festival. Born and educated in Brazil, he has lived in the San Francisco Bay area for the past decade. Scott London is a longtime photographer of Burning Man, and his photos have appeared in Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, GQ, and National Geographic Traveler. He is the former host of NPR's "Insight and Outlook." Larry Harvey is the Founder of Burning Man and Burning Man Project. He currently serves as head of the Burning Man Project's Philosophical Center, conceives the theme of the Burning Man event each year, and determines the design of the Man and its base. He is passionate about books and art, and resides in San Francisco. Will Chase is a writer best known for his role as publisher of Burning Man's online newsletter, Jackrabbit Speaks, and as editor of The Burning Blog. He is also a long-time art curator and arts consultant through his company, Will Chase Arts. Leo Villareal is an artist who works with light and scale. He has created numerous iconic works including Multiverse for the underground walkway of Washington's National Gallery of Art, Hive for New York's Bleecker Street subway station, and The Bay Lights, spanning the Bay Bridge between San Francisco and Oakland.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Burning Man: Art on Fire: Revised and Updated; Knickerbocker Classics
• Author: Jennifer Raiser
• Photographs by: Sidney Erthal, Scott London
• Contributors: Larry Harvey, Will Chase, Leo Villareal
• Edition: illustrated, reprint, revised
• Publisher: Race Point Publishing, 2016
• ISBN: 1631062565, 9781631062568
• Length: 256 pages
• Subjects: Art / American / General; Art / Collections, Catalogs, Exhibitions / Group Shows; Art / Mixed Media; Art / Popular Culture; Art / Techniques / General; Photography / Subjects & Themes / Celebrations & Events