January 23 – April 19, 2009 January 23 – April 19, 2009
BRUCE NAUMAN
(Born in 1941 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Lives in Northern New Mexico.)
Bruce Nauman studied mathe- matics, physics, and art. In 1966, he had his first solo show at the Nicholas Wilder Gallery in Los Angeles and in 1973, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York co-organized his first museum survey. A large-scale retrospective exhibition in 1994 was organized by the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis and the Hirschhorn Museum, Washington, D.C., and traveled to The Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and the Reina Sofia, Madrid. In the summer of 2009, Nauman will represent the United States in the .
Cover image: Venice Biennale, 1985 Neon tubing mounted on aluminum monolith, 24 x 36 x 9 1/4 inches, edition of 40. Collection of Lois and Steve Eisen. © 2008 Bruce Nauman / Artists Rights SocietyDouble (ARS),Poke in New the York.Eye II
for the Contemporary’s exhibitions program is generously provided by the Whitaker Foundation; The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; William E. Weiss Foundation; Regional Arts Commission; Missouri Arts Council, a state agency; Nancy Reynolds and Dwyer Brown; Arts and Education Council; and members of the Contemporary Art Museum GeneralSt. Louis. support January 23 – April 19, 2009 January 23 – April 19, 2009
1 Main Galleries duo in an endless back-and-forth relationship between word and off-screen, never quite grasping of mindless aggression, locking image and explore what the artist the mechanics of the illusion. them in a perpetual pantomine, calls the “functional edges” of Nauman’s work is often wherein each poke becomes a language. Another photograph discussed in relationship to Samuel tiny and short-lived victory. In the in the series, , shows Beckett, a writer whose work, while two-channel video (1994), the the artist’s hands tied behind his often droll, evokes the tortured artist traps his own face behind back and connects his mastery of drama of existence. His only film, two square monitors. Stuck in wordplay to his penchant for the (1965), stars the ageing Buster a contest against himself and useless. PlayingBound another to Fail linguistic Keaton and adds a comic edge Bruce Nauman is among the against gravity, Nauman Jump performs joke, Nauman reshuffles a famous to the classic Beckettian loop most influential American artists a series of repetitive but rhythmic Elvis Presley lyric in of tragic paralysis. And indeed, of his generation. Since the head-bangs—each jump a fleeting , a 1966 drawing from Keaton’sFilm own films tell tales of early sixties, he has developed triumph. Nauman has taken on the collection of the Saint Louis Art endlessly violent, if slapstick, acts a multifaceted body of work gravity before. An iconic double- Museum. defined by Sisyphean traps, bodily that explores the nature of art, exposed photograph, Humiliation, self-deprecation,Love Me Tender, contortions, linguistic slip-ups, language, and human behavior. (1966), shows andMove dysfunction Te Lender are as central and misunderstandings. Like both Resisting any distinct style or the artist attempting to hover to Nauman’s practice as they Beckett and Keaton, Nauman’s medium, his extensive oeuvre above his studio floor, resulting are to the nature of comedy. His comedy is marked by trickery, includes sculpture, photographs, in yet another task thatFailing is bound to work is often ruthless in shaming claustrophobia, mischief, and neons, performances, drawings, toLevitate fail. in the Studio its audience, especially when it embarrassment. In Buster Keaton’s prints, sound installations, and The tragi-comedy of simple addresses and disparages them 1921 silent short film videos. Showcasing a selection of gestures plays a prominent role directly, as with (1973). , the star plays an innocent works ranging from 1966 to 1995, in much of Nauman’s work and As if on cue, the rarely-seen video hero who finds himself mistaken , 1966 foregrounds the re-appears in his early (1995) challenges viewers for a wanted criminal named Black-and-white photograph, 20 x 24 inches. artist’s particular use of humor— (1966/67-70), which to find the magic in a card trick. Dead Shot Dan. The twenty-seven Courtesy of the artist. © 2008 Bruce Nauman / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. one that is deadpan, painful, and depict the artist engaged in various Presented on surveillancePay Attention monitors minutesThe Goat of narrow escapes, relentlessly tongue-in-cheek. mundane performances. He sits at in the museum’s public bathrooms ridiculous disguises, pathetic Failing to Levitate in the Studio Dead ShotGreeting Dan viewers to the a kitchen table spreadingEleven jam Color on a andBar Tricks café, the video features a violence, and hopeless hide- exhibition is seriesPhotographs of letters in . skilled illusionist performing a outs are among Keaton’s most (1985), in which a pair of neon He polishes the letters H, O, and series of sleights-of-hand for memorable performances and heads swap finger jabs under the T in . While these dumb the artist and a few friends. As serve as an apt stand-in for the whirr and hiss of pink and blue one-liners act as purposefully bad she teases her audience with a sour after-taste that follows Bruce tube lights. NaumanDouble Poke traps in the the Eye II jokes, they establishEating a complex My Words slowed-down delivery, they chuckle Nauman’s sense of the comic.
Waxing Hot
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