Bruce Nauman: Exploring the Limits of Art and Behavior

Bruce Nauman

1941– | American | Installations; Performance Art; Sculpture; Conceptual Art; Video

Regarded as one of the gurus of the official art world, Nauman aims to examine, document, and explore the boundaries of artistic activity, human behavior, performance, humiliation, stress, and frustration. He works in many media—video, performance, neon, installation, sculpture, and printmaking. He claims to be communicating his observations of human nature and examining social situations, often repetitive, and deliberately inept. Fair enough, but the initial appeal can sometimes be superficial and banal. If the answer is, “that’s the point,” then isn’t it just an exercise in irony? Critics may ignore museum labels and their over-anxious insistence that this work is important, but significant money and professional credibility for this artist make the viewer uncertain. Better still, as this is overtly public art, study the reactions of gallery goers. Are they engaged or bored? Do they find this sensitive and disinterested? They will tell you in their sidelong glances and vague movements.

Leaping Foxes. 2018

Bruce Nauman Studio

KEY WORKS: Self Sinking into the Wall with Copper Painted Plaster Casts of the Spaces Underneath, 1966 (Canberra: National Gallery of Australia); Revealing Mystic Truths (Window or Wall Sign), 1967