Scott Burton’s career in art began at the Washington Workshop Center, in D.C., in the mid–1950s. It was a good time to be there. Minimalism was on the rise, and the teenage Burton found a mentor in the painter Leon Berkowitz. In his early 20s, Burton took classes at Harvard, and then earned degrees from Columbia and New York University. He also began to create what he described as “sculpture in love with furniture.” Burton broke down the traditional boundary between fine art and utilitarian design. He worked on the fringes of the avant-garde. Heading into the 1970s, he became a champion of gay rights. In 1976, in an exhibition at P.S. 1, Burton featured a fisting dildo dedicated to “homosexual liberation.” In 1989, age 50, Burton died from AIDS-related complications. At the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, 40 works celebrate Burton’s sculptural practice. —Elena Clavarino

Travels to: Wrightwood 659, Chicago (October 3, 2025 – January 31, 2026)