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One hundred miles from the gambling town of Reno, in the wilderness of northern Nevada, lies a vast, hostile plain known as the Black Rock Desert. The region has been an empty and windswept dry lake bed for most of the past 10,000 years. Except, that is, for one brief week at the end of each summer, when a temporary city rises out of the barren clay.
This is the surreal and amazing site of Burning Man. Baked by the sun, and blinded by dust, the gathering acquires different meanings for different people: temporary community, spiritual adventure, performance stage, desert rave, social experiment. It’s also the incubator of some of the most remarkable site-specific outdoor art ever made: a mechanized fire-breathing octopus, a towering wooden temple 15 meters tall, and the eponymous Man himself—a skeletal sculpture set ablaze at the event’s conclusion.
Here, writer and photographer NK Guy presents 16 years of Burning Man art. His dazzling images record these participatory, collective, intrinsically ephemeral installations and happenings in the desert, which exist for no clearer purpose than because someone wanted to express something. The result is testimony to a realm far beyond the ego, commerce, and power play of mainstream cultural output: it is one of the most pure, uninhibited, expressive centers of our time.
With a foreword by temple designer and artist David Best and a futureword by Founding Board Member Marian Goodell.
“…A celebration of Burning Man, but also an explanation for those unacquainted, the book explains the origin of the temple-like artworks that crop up on the playa each year.”
“…what comes across so strongly in this book is not just the works themselves but the people who make them, and the culture in which they are imagined, incubated and realised.”
“The TASCHEN book is every vicarious festival goer’s dream come true. Featuring further photographs and writing by NK Guy, the book offers one glimpse into the whimsical and (until now) ephemeral world of Burning Man.”
“NK Guy's Art of Burning Man is a true gift to Humanity. For it is a visual chronicle that details beauty, inspiration, creativity, unfettered living and freedom in the Black Rock Desert, Nevada at 'The Burning Man Project'. NK Guy's fine art photography has captured many magical moments of the Burning Man project over sixteen years. The Art of Burning Man has the potential to open hearts and minds. The strong imagery and the stories of events, people and artists are all about spontaneity and beauty, self-expression and open hearts. Next best to being there at Nevada, undoubtedly, would be the experience of NK Guy. Art of Burning Man from TASCHEN. Yours for £34.99. A small price to pay for great beauty.”
“…rather than merely experiencing and browsing the photographs it is like taking a personal tour of an art gallery, each image is a work of perfection, stunningly reproduced. With informative text supporting the images giving the full history and detail of the sixteen-year old festival, it’s an enthralling and beautiful read…Simply luscious.”