Compare and ContrastOn November 19, 1971, performance artist Chris Burden was shot and killed. Standing in a spacious, empty gallery, surrounded by white walls, he stood still while his friend aimed a loaded rifle at his left arm at a distance of about ten to fifteen feet. A few people stood nearby and observed the scene. Moments after installation, the trigger was pulled, while a man stood nearby documenting the event by taking a black and white photo, known as his performance art creation titled Shoot. In 1993, Chris Burden created another work of art titled LAPD Uniforms, currently on display at the New Museum in New York on the second floor. In the exhibit, you'll find copies of LAPD uniforms, complete from top to bottom, down to the guns and batons in their holsters. Chris Burden made thirty of them in the year following the riots that broke out following the dismissal of officers who were filmed beating a rowdy motorist, Rodney King. It is true that Burden inflicted pain on himself, but that does not mean that this pain brought him gratification. Nothing in Shoot's documentation implies that Burden found any thrill in the act, or any form of satisfaction. Chris Burden asked one of his friends to shoot him in the arm, but that was it. After being rushed to the emergency room, he simply recounted the facts of what happened, leaving what happened that night open for the public to interpret. Despite all the work he subsequently produced, Burden is now known as "the artist who committed suicide." Burden's Shoot may have involved him being shot, but the title of "artist who committed suicide" far outlasted the laceration. Therefore, regardless of the organization of the attempt, it was just a... middle of paper... To recap, Chris Burden created these two works to stir up public opinion regarding violence in America, or as well as the world. In Shoot and LAPD Uniforms, they have to do with violence, strength and power. I believe Burden's work regarding uniforms sparks a hot topic in today's society regarding racial profiling, due to the massive population growth of minorities. The LAPD uniforms had a much deeper impact on me, being a minority and all. Today, as in the past, many police officers use racial profiling to further their investigations because they believe that crimes committed in the past have some sort of correlation to a person's race. Furthermore, art is and always will be subjective, because the question of "what" is not as deep as the question of understanding how or why..