Altar to Dionysus by David Allen Burns and Austin Young | Fallen Fruit

This photographic animated artwork projected on the iconic FAO building was inspired by a visit to an ancient temple and vineyard at an archeological site on Mt. Vesuvius near Somma Vesuviana. The hills of this region have been covered by vineyards since Roman times. Dionysus, pictured, is the god of winemaking, orchards, fruit, vegetation and fertility, and was patron saint of this land. In this reconfigured artwork, the artists create a tribute to abundance, sustainability, the beauty of planet earth’s biodiversity (flowers and fruit) and the idea that from ancient to modern times, our humanity is a celebration.

About David Allen Burns and Austin Young | Fallen Fruit

Fallen Fruit investigates interstitial urban spaces, bodies of knowledge, and new forms of citizenship. From protests to proposals for utopian shared spaces, Fallen Fruit’s work aims to reconfigure the relationship of sharing and explore understandings of what is considered both public and private. From their work, the artists have learned that “fruit” is symbolic and that it can be many things; it’s a subject and an object at the same time it is aesthetic. Much of the work they create is linked to ideas of place and geographical knowledge, and it echoes a sense of connectedness with something very primal – our capacity to share the world with others. Fallen Fruit is an art collaboration originally conceived in 2004 by David Burns, Matias Viegener and Austin Young. Since 2013, David and Austin have continued the collaborative work.

The Endless Orchard | By Fallen Fruit

The Endless Orchard is a project created by artist duo David Allen Burns and Austin Young of Fallen Fruit. “We are a contemporary artists duo. We make large scale art installations, public fruit parks, and plant fruit trees in public space for everyone to share. We invite you to experience your city as a fruitful place, to radically shift public participation and the function of urban spaces, and to explore the meaning of community through creating and sharing new and abundant resources like fruit trees.

”Fruit trees live longer than most residents of a city. In fact, they can be productive and sustainable for more than 40 years. The Endless Orchard wants to position this project globally and engage community with the idea that generosity begets generosity. Everyone can participate regardless of age, class or gender. It is easy to expand the Endless Orchard by planting fruit trees adjacent to or on public spaces. We invite artists, activists, historians and engaged citizens to plant fruit trees in publicly accessible spaces and create more Urban Fruit Trails in more cities and expand the Endless Orchard. Ideally, all of this will be enhanced in a future version with Augmented Reality as a way to guide people through neighborhoods, adding stories, images, videos, text and more. In a multi-user environment with prompts on how to engage the city using prompts and markers such as fruit trees, public spaces and community landmarks. The Endless Orchard will become a socially interfaced environment gathering information on the best ways to navigate and experience city streets and public spaces. Share fruit trees in your neighborhood!

“Fruit is a universal gift to humanity.”

About David Allen Burns

Born in Los Angeles, California, David Allen Burns completed a BFA from California Institute of the Arts and an MFA from UC Irvine. David grew up in a diverse middle-class community in West Los Angeles and helped out at family-owned businesses across Southern California. David’s work has always looked at contextualized relational knowledge and disrupting systems of meaning, especially exploring the limitations and boundaries about what could be considered “familiar.” Often work is created with non-precious materials, found objects and incorporates materials from the everyday to transform aesthetics and contextual framework that sublimates understanding about what we think we may already know — likened to a conceptual reconstruction of a tromp l’loiel instead of the copy of the visual representation.

About Austin Young

Austin Young is from Reno, Nevada and currently lives and works in Los Angeles. The foundation of his career is from studying at Parsons in Paris. Early in his career, Austin transferred his interests from traditional portrait painting towards a long-celebrated career in portrait photography. In many ways, Austin is more accurately described as an image-maker: his projects illustrate the sublime qualities of character that make celebrated people unique. Based on a nuanced visual language of pop-culture iconography, his trademark style and techniques have captured a broad palette of musicians, artists and celebrities including Debbie Harry, Leigh Bowery and Margaret Cho, among others. In multiple bodies of work, Austin confuses personality and identity issues in confrontational and unapologetic image making about people who often split gender roles, stereotypical constraints and socially-constructed identities.

Curated by Tramandars