#bruce nauman
Bruce Nauman: Clown Torture
Talking about the often self-humiliating nature of clown routines, #BruceNauman observed “You couldn’t get away with that without makeup. People wouldn’t put up with it, it’s too mean. But in the circus it’s okay, it’s still funny.” In “Clown Torture” (1987), now on view at MoMA PS1, the surveillance-style footage makes the viewer complicit with the distancing perspective of CCTV cameras. Will weallow ourselves to get away with spying on the clown as he desperately tries to fight off boredom while waiting to relieve himself?
…
[Credit: Bruce Nauman. “Clown Torture.” 1987. Four-channel video installation, two projections, four monitors, color, sound. The Art Institute of Chicago. Watson F. Blair Prize, Wilson L. Mead, and Twentieth-Century Purchase funds; through prior gift of Joseph Winterbotham; gift of Lannan Foundation. © 2019 Bruce Nauman/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York]
Post link
Bruce Nauman: Poke in the Eye/Nose/Ear 3/8/94 Edit
Nauman’s own body is a sculptural material that is prodded in slow motion in this early video. Now on view at MoMA PS1 as part of Bruce Nauman: Disappearing Acts, the first comprehensive retrospective of the artist’s work in over twenty years, spanning both MoMA and MoMA PS1. Plan a visit for in-depth insight into the diverse facets of his work across fifty years.
…
[Credit: Bruce Nauman. “Poke in the Eye/Nose/Ear 3/8/94 Edit.” 1994. One video projector, one video player, one video source (color, sound). © 2018 Bruce Nauman/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.]
Bruce Nauman: Double Steel Cage Piece
Now at MoMA PS1: Many of Bruce Nauman’s architectural works are claustrophobia-inducing spaces that viewers can enter. In “Double Steel Cage Piece” (1974), you traverse a very narrow passage within and around a cage while others watch — a doubly uncomfortable experience.
…
[Image: “Double Steel Cage Piece.” 1974. MoMA PS1. © 2018 Bruce Nauman/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Martin Seck]
Post link
“What interested me was the idea that…You don’t try to avoid the resistance. You go straight to it, try to analyze the parts that make you uncomfortable… and then certain physical blocks will be released.” –Bruce Nauman
Bruce Nauman’s invitations to participate in artwork, like the enticing surveillance of “Going Around the Corner Piece” where visitors who pace the perimeter of a sealed room catch glimpses of themselves from behind as they approach its surrounding monitors—now on view at MoMA—turn passive viewers into performers. Will you join in?
[Credit: Installation view, “Going Around the Corner Piece” (1970) in “Bruce Nauman: Disappearing Acts” at MoMA. © 2018 Bruce Nauman/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Martin Seck]
Post link
“This may become a very erotic exercise…"
Many of Bruce Nauman’s works invite direct participation. Body Pressure (1974) is a call for extreme bodily awareness, incomplete without your cooperation. Now on view at MoMA PS1 in Disappearing Acts: mo.ma/brucenauman
[Credit: Installation view, “Body Pressure” (1974) in "Bruce Nauman: Disappearing Acts” at MoMA PS1. © 2018 Bruce Nauman/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Walter Wlodarczyk]
Post link
“Disappearing Acts lets us see with clarity where the artist stands and why he is pertinent to our wrenching moment…. It’s a transfixing trip.”
The New York TimesreviewsBruce Nauman: Disappearing Acts, now on view at MoMA and MoMA PS1. Read more →
…
[Installation view, “Bruce Nauman: Disappearing Acts” at MoMA, New York (October 21, 2018–February 25, 2019, at MoMA and MoMA PS1). © 2018 Bruce Nauman/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Digital image © 2018 The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Photo: Martin Seck]
Post link
“That not everyone can get in but can (attempt to) watch is important. It’s a moral dilemma that gives weight to the whole” – Bruce NaumanonKassel Corridor: Elliptical Space (1972), now on view for the first time in New York at MoMA.
Whether making viewers decide whether to watch or be watched or vanishing the binaries of moral clarity, as seen in Seven Virtues/Seven Vices, now on view at MoMA PS1, Nauman’s work erases all forms of certainty, requiring us to craft our own meanings rather than adhere to established rules.
[Image Credits: Installation view, Kassel Corridor: Elliptical Space (1972) in Bruce Nauman: Disappearing Acts at MoMA, New York (October 21, 2018–February 25, 2019, at MoMA and MoMA PS1). © 2018 Bruce Nauman/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Martin Seck
Bruce Nauman. Seven Virtues/Seven Vices. 1983-84. Limestone, in seven parts. Gift of Edward R. Broida. © 2018 Bruce Nauman/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York]
Post link
Bruce Nauman - Life, Death, Love, Hate, Pleasure, Pain
(signed and dated ‘B Nauman 87’) graphite, charcoal, pastel and watercolor on paper 80x80 inch executed in 1983
Post link
