Bill Burns (artist)

Bill Burns is a Canadian artist.

Life

Burns studied at the Jesuit run Campion College in Regina before receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1980 from the University of Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia. He attended Goldsmiths College at the University of London, England, and obtained a Masters of Fine Arts in 1987.

Burns' work consists mainly of interactive materials, photographs and reimaginings of everyday or mundane materials. He is best known for his "Safety Gear for Small Animals" (SGSA) series, and the accompanying museum, where gear for animals and guides on how to assist them are displayed. [http://www.safetygearforsmallanimals.com/#] Using the conventions of both traditional museum display and print-media marketing, Burns' work spotlights minuscule safety vests, work gloves, bullet-proof vests, U.V. goggles and respirators, and acts as a commentary about human stewardship of the environment.

Bill Burns has also published several books including "When Pain Strikes", a critical anthology about pain and pain relief, published by the University of Minnesota Press in 1999. Other book titles include "Analgesia" (1993), "How to Help Animals Escape from Degraded Habitats" (1996) and "Urban Fauna Information Station" (2002) and "Safety Gear for Small Animals- the Green Version" (2005). Burns has also published dozens of guides, posters, and editions. His book works and artists' editions have become highly valued and are included in collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Gallery in London and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Burns' other works include, "Boilersuits for Primates" a collection of all the items that prisoners receive when they arrive at Guantanamo Bay . [http://www.heathernicol.ca/makingroom/artists.html] and "How to Help Animals Escape from Natural History" a series of photographs depicting animals taking leave of natural history books.

Burns is the recipient of numerous awards from the Canada Council for the Arts, Department of Foreign Affairs of the Government of France, and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation. He was commissioned to produce the conceptual project known as "Everything I Could Buy on eBay About Malaria" by the Wellcome Trust in London, England in 2002.Burns' exhibited his series of safety gear and rescue and triage tent works in the groundbreaking exhibition "Safe: Design Takes on Risk" curated by Paula Antoinelli at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2005 and 2006. His animal rescue works have also been exhibited at the Seoul Museum of Art in Seoul, Korea and El Basilisco in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Burns has also participated in the Forum Arte y Vida at the Havana Bienal in Havana, Cuba in 2003 and at the Bienal del Fin del Mundo in Ushuaia, Argentina in 2007.

References

"Safe: Design Takes on Risk", Antoinelli, Paula et al, Museum of Modern Art, New York: 2005

"Safety Gear for Small Animals", Hurtig, Annette; Burns, Bill; Sloan, Johanne; Seaton, Beth, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria and MOCCA, Toronto: 2005

0.800.0FAUNA0FLORA, Burns, Bill, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London: 2008

External links

* [http://www.safetygearforsmallanimals.com/# Bill Burns website]
* http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/2005/safe/safe.html