Reaching toward the sky, this beautiful winged creature rises above the Playa of Burning Man 2023. The Man, with his red pants, can be seen in the background.
“Burning Man is unique in the world. Hard to describe how incredible it is for those who have never been. Best art on Earth.” –Elon Musk
Elon Musk came to Burning Man this year along with a number of other luminaries. I don’t agree with him on a number of things, but I do admire his creativity and willingness to think big. We were more than happy to use Starlink on our remote property in Oregon. And I think that his description of Burning Man is relatively accurate. I’ve been arguing for years that it features some of the world’s best art being produced now. My first venture out to the event in Nevada’s Black Desert was in 2004. I’ve been back 12 times since and Peggy has been with me 9 of those times. Art is the primary reason we return.
Our time to explore the Playa and Black Rock City was limited this year. We came in on Monday afternoon, a day after Burning Man opened, and saw everything shut down on Friday because of the rain. We were left with just over 3 days to hike and bike our way through the art. Peggy and I photographed over 50 pieces that I will share with you over our next 5-6 posts. Sadly, that left a lot of art we didn’t see. My apology to the artists.
“Touch the Sky” was created by Martin Taylor and Chromaforms out of Oakland, CA. He describes it as “a sculpture of a mythical winged creature with the head of a human preparing to take flight.” He also notes, it “serves as a visual metaphor for taking leaps of faith to achieve our dreams and fly.” This photo provides a comparison between “Touch the Sky” in the day with the sculpture at night.A close up of “Touch the Sky.” Taylor noted that the sculpture “is outlined by geometric tattoo-like perforations that accentuate the shape of the body and emit light at night.”I’m featuring metallic art from Burning Man 2023 in this post. Meet Anya of “Anya and the Void Bunnies.” The artist is Steffin Griswold from Minneapolis, MN. Griswold’s description is “Visiting dignitaries from beyond space and time receive a gift from the heart of fire.” Anya is a fire goddess. While we didn’t get a photo of her at night, flames emerge from her hands.Here are the void bunnies from outer space, waiting patiently for their gift of fire. Sorry guys, you will have to wait until dark.A close up of a void bunny with his bunny ears and bunny tail.A frontal shot of Anya. The dark spots on her hands and heart are what emit the flames. You can see the tubes leading from her heart that connect to a propane tank.And finally, Anya and the void bunnies together. She’s got a pretty good tail and ears of her own! The Temple of Babel, which I will feature later, can be seen in the background.This handsome turtle sculpture by Mark Dill from Fleming Island, FL is titled “Journey of the Aquatic.”Here’s the underside. Mark says the sculpture is “5 times life size of a loggerhead turtle. It is meant to express the joy and wonder of seeing turtles in the ocean. As well as the fragility of the turtles’ lives and the dangers to their existence. I was snorkeling once on the island of Hawaii and came on a sea turtle that I started to follow. My ‘joy and wonder’ were so strong that I ran head on into a fishing boat!”You may have noticed the flying horse, or Pegasus, behind the first turtle picture. Titled “Wings of Glory,” this is his second trip to Burning Man. He is a magnificent creature that runs and flies slowly on his pedestal above the Playa. The artist, Adrian Landon, hails from Reno, Nevada, so Pegasus had a short flight to get back to the Black Rock Desert. Peggy and I watched him strut his stuff, a truly magical creature, a myth come to life.Wings down, Pegasus continues to fly.My first thought was of strange but attractive looking nuts piled on top of each other when I first saw this sculpture by the L’Attitude Collective from Petaluma, CA. Imagine my surprise when I learned it was a Complexahedron. A ‘what’ you say. Here’s how the artists described it: A shrine to commemorate the moment when unicellular eukaryotes began to aggregate and become one. Now you know, right. Grin. Petaluma, BTW, is home to a number of Burning Man’s top artists creating impressive works year after year.Bicycling around it, I discovered it had a face. And the sculpture in front holding what I assume is a smaller Complexahedron. I took a closeup.A muscular woman is holding the Complexahedron up in the air, like Atlas, or possibly giving birth to it out of her head/brain, creating early life.Wizard, and I’ll assume that is his Burning Man name (I’m Outlaw), hails from Oakland, California. He describes it as looking like “a 12 foot silver donut.” This was our day for dust storms on the Playa.Stainless steel, curved tubes wrap around each other and form the body of the donut.Here is OHM at night. While I couldn’t find the name of the artist who created this piece, I’ve always liked mobile art ever since I was introduced to the work of Alexander Calder. I’ll wrap up this post here. Next art post: The Fantastic Beasts of Burning Man 2023.
Very cool, Curt. These photos make me want to pedal about Burning Man and see all the art in person. Thanks for sharing them. I’m looking forward to the series. 🙂
Curt, I’m glad you had a chance to explore so much before the mud chaos! These are wonderfully striking pieces and so interesting to see the in the day and at night. The Flying Horse is incredible. Touch the Sky is stunning and what a creative feat by the artist! Do you meet up with friends made during previous visits there? I look forward to learning more about this year’s artwork!
So were we, Annika! For the artists as well as ourselves. They put so much time, talent, and love into creating their sculptures (as I know you are aware of), their work deserves to be appreciated. Actually, this was one of the first years, we didn’t travel there with our friends, who are all members of the Horse Bone Tribe. Grin.
Somewhat off-topic, Petaluma is also the city where my kid’s dad graduated from high school. He used to be proud that Jeff Bridges and Winona Ryder were fellow alumni. Petaluma apparently nurtures artists. :o)
My faves here are the sculpture Anya, Touch the Sky, and the mobile. But also the image of the mobile, which shows so much artwork in the background. Just wonderful. Of course the first image of a lit up Touch the Sky had a lit up Man in the distance. I love how the art scene at Burning Man is all brand new at night. That doubles the amount of art I guess.
The whole North Coast nurtures artists. Crystal. Having spent a lot of time there, I can understand why!
Good observation on the Mobile! Actually, I meant to make it and forgot. 🙂 Thanks Crystal. And you are right about feeling you are getting twice as much art by the difference in the pieces between day and night.
You’d love Burning Man at night. It is so much like a magical fairy world.
Oh wow many times over. I always love your BM art posts. Didn’t like the complexahedron. Of the others *loved* Pegasus and Touch the Sky. How are they lit? Tiny bulbs inside and a buried line to the generators? The donut too – lit up is beautiful. Would love to see that fire goddess dispensing flames!
Alison
Wandering through Time and Place 
I did not realize you had that time before it began to rain. Glad you had those days!
Would have been a bummer to pay all that money for playing in the mud, Ray. 🙂
Such extraordinary pieces. I like ‘Touch the Sky’ best, but they are all worthy. Glad you saw them before the rain set in.
Very cool, Curt. These photos make me want to pedal about Burning Man and see all the art in person. Thanks for sharing them. I’m looking forward to the series. 🙂
Glad you are enjoying them, D. A trip to Burning Man to experience the art is definitely worth it! –Curt
Curt, I’m glad you had a chance to explore so much before the mud chaos! These are wonderfully striking pieces and so interesting to see the in the day and at night. The Flying Horse is incredible. Touch the Sky is stunning and what a creative feat by the artist! Do you meet up with friends made during previous visits there? I look forward to learning more about this year’s artwork!
So were we, Annika! For the artists as well as ourselves. They put so much time, talent, and love into creating their sculptures (as I know you are aware of), their work deserves to be appreciated. Actually, this was one of the first years, we didn’t travel there with our friends, who are all members of the Horse Bone Tribe. Grin.
Somewhat off-topic, Petaluma is also the city where my kid’s dad graduated from high school. He used to be proud that Jeff Bridges and Winona Ryder were fellow alumni. Petaluma apparently nurtures artists. :o)
My faves here are the sculpture Anya, Touch the Sky, and the mobile. But also the image of the mobile, which shows so much artwork in the background. Just wonderful. Of course the first image of a lit up Touch the Sky had a lit up Man in the distance. I love how the art scene at Burning Man is all brand new at night. That doubles the amount of art I guess.
The whole North Coast nurtures artists. Crystal. Having spent a lot of time there, I can understand why!
Good observation on the Mobile! Actually, I meant to make it and forgot. 🙂 Thanks Crystal. And you are right about feeling you are getting twice as much art by the difference in the pieces between day and night.
You’d love Burning Man at night. It is so much like a magical fairy world.
Oh wow many times over. I always love your BM art posts. Didn’t like the complexahedron. Of the others *loved* Pegasus and Touch the Sky. How are they lit? Tiny bulbs inside and a buried line to the generators? The donut too – lit up is beautiful. Would love to see that fire goddess dispensing flames!
Alison
Lights inside are the answer, Alison. With the sculptures designed to display them. And the lines are buried.
Our two favorites as well. 🙂 –Curt
Hopefully, at least some of these have long term homes where non burners can see them. Especially Touch the Sky.
Many do, Dave, often ending up in towns and cities, and some in museums. I suspect that “Touch the Sky” will find a home.