Tim Burns

Biography

Tim Burns is a legendary figure in the history of Australian underground art. He rose to notoriety in the early 1970s with a series of (literally) explosive art actions, before decamping to New York, where he remained, on and off until the mid-1990s.

Rather than identifying as a painter, filmmaker, karaoke videographer, installation artist, theatre director or performer (although he has done all these and more), Burns calls himself ‘a context artist’.

His most notable film projects are Political Transmission (1978), WHY CARS?-CARnage! (1979) and Against the Grain: More Meat Than Wheat (1981).