Bruce Nauman facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Bruce Nauman
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Truncated Pyramid Room (1982/1998) in Lörrach, Germany
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| Born | December 6, 1941 Fort Wayne, Indiana, US
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| Education | University of Wisconsin–Madison and University of California, Davis |
| Known for | sculpture, photography, neon, video, drawing, printmaking and performance |
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Notable work
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La air, 1970, Human/Need/Desire, 1983 |
| Awards | Larry Aldrich Award, Golden Lion at 53rd Venice Biennale |
Bruce Nauman (born December 6, 1941) is an American artist. He creates art using many different things, like sculptures, photos, neon lights, videos, drawings, prints, and performances. Nauman lives in Galisteo, New Mexico.
Life and Artworks
Bruce Nauman was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana. His family moved often because his father was an engineer. He first studied math and physics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Then, he studied art at the University of California, Davis.
In 1964, he stopped painting and started focusing on sculptures, performances, and films. After finishing art school in 1966, he taught art for a few years. In 1968, he met the artist Meredith Monk and began working with a famous art dealer, Leo Castelli. Nauman moved to New Mexico in 1979 and later to Galisteo in 1989. He lived and worked there with his second wife, the painter Susan Rothenberg, until she passed away in 2020.
After graduating, Nauman wondered what an artist should do. He realized that if he was an artist in his studio, then whatever he did there must be art! This idea changed art for him. It became more about the action of creating, rather than just the finished product.
He set up studios in San Francisco and Mill Valley. In these places, he filmed himself doing simple actions. These early videos, made between 1966 and 1970, explored what art could be. He used his own body to look at feelings and how people behave.
Much of Nauman's art uses language in interesting ways. He often plays with words, like in his neon sign Run From Fear – Fun From Rear. He is interested in how we communicate and the challenges of language. He also explores the artist's role in sharing ideas through visual symbols.
In the 1960s, Nauman started showing his art in galleries in Los Angeles and New York. He also had big shows at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum in 1972.
Nauman often uses neon lights in his art. He uses them to suggest something special or spiritual about light.
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His artwork Self Portrait as a Fountain (1966) shows him spitting water like a fountain. In the late 1960s, Nauman started building small, enclosed rooms and hallways. Visitors could walk through them. These spaces made people feel like they were trapped or alone. He also created a series of works called Dream Passage, inspired by his own dreams. In Changing Light Corridor with Rooms (1971), a dark hallway has two rooms on the sides. Lights in these rooms flash at different speeds.
In 1988, after almost 20 years of focusing on video and performance, he started making sculptures again.
Famous Artworks
Here are some of Bruce Nauman's well-known artworks:
- A Rose Has No Teeth (1966) — A sculpture made of lead.
- Eleven Color Photographs (1966-1967/1970) — A collection of eleven color photos.
- Art Make-Up (1967) — A video where Nauman slowly covers his face and body with different colors of makeup.
- The True Artist Helps the World by Revealing Mystic Truths (1967) – A neon sign with this message written in a spiral.
- Flesh to White to Black to Flesh (1968) — A video showing Nauman putting on white, then black makeup, and then returning to his natural skin color.
- Burning Small Fires (1969) — An artist's book where Nauman burned another artist's book, photographed it, and made his own book from the photos.
- Wall-Floor Positions (1969) — A video showing Nauman moving his body into different positions against a wall and floor.
- Pacing Upside Down(1969) — A video where Nauman walks strangely around a square on the floor, filmed upside down.
- LA AIR (1970) – A book with only 10 color photos of the polluted Los Angeles sky.
- Henry Moore bound to fail, back view (1967–1970) – A sculpture of a man's back with his arms tied. This artwork sold for $9 million, one of the highest prices for his work.
- Please/Pay/Attention/Please (1973) — A collage with words.
- Elke allowing the floor to rise up over her face (1973) — A video where a person seems to sink into the floor.
- Tony Sinking into the Floor, Face Up, and Face Down (1973) — A video similar to the one above, showing a person sinking into the floor.
- Center of the Universe (1983) — Concrete tunnels that spread out from a center point, with one reaching towards the sky. It's located at the University of New Mexico.
- Good Boy Bad Boy (1985) — Two video screens showing people speaking different phrases.
- Clown Torture (1987) – Four video screens showing different clowns doing annoying things, like screaming or telling jokes.
- Animal Pyramid (1989) – A tall stack of seventeen animal molds, reaching twelve feet high.
- World Peace (1996) – An artwork with five videos showing people talking about world peace at the same time.
- Setting a Good Corner (Allegory & Metaphor) (1999) – A video that loops, showing the artist building a fence post.
- Mapping the Studio I (Fat Chance John Cage) (2001) – Multiple videos showing his cat and mice moving around his art studio at night.
- Raw Materials (2004) – A sound artwork at the Tate Modern museum, with 21 different sound pieces.
- One Hundred Fish Fountain (2005) — Bronze fish hanging from the ceiling, with water pumping through them into a basin below.
- Untitled "Leave the Land Alone" (1969/2009) – A message written in the sky by a plane over Pasadena.
- Days/Giorni (2009) – Speakers playing recordings of people chanting the days of the week in English or Italian.
- For Beginners (all the combinations of the thumb and fingers) (2010) – A video showing Nauman's hands making all possible combinations of his fingers and thumb.
Art Projects for Public Spaces
In 1990, the Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation asked Nauman to create a bronze version of his Animal Pyramid (1989). This tall stack of animal molds is now at the Des Moines Art Center in Iowa.
Art in Collections
Bruce Nauman's art can be found in many famous museums around the world. Some of these include the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Modern in London, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
Awards and Recognition
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Bruce Nauman has received many important awards for his art:
- 1993 - Wolf Prize for his amazing sculptures and contributions to 20th-century art.
- 1999 - Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale, a very important art exhibition.
- 2004 - Praemium Imperiale for sculpture.
- 2009 - Another Golden Lion at the 2009 Venice Biennale, where he represented the United States.
- 2014 - Austrian Frederick Kiesler Prize for Architecture and the Arts.
Time magazine named Nauman one of the 100 most influential people in 2004. In 2006, he was ranked as the number one living artist by Artfacts.net.
Artistic Influences
Nauman has said that these writers, thinkers, and artists have greatly influenced his work:
- HC Westermann
- Samuel Beckett
- Ludwig Wittgenstein
- John Cage
- Philip Glass
- La Monte Young
- Meredith Monk
He has often mentioned the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein as an influence. Nauman liked Wittgenstein's way of thinking about things, especially his idea of "language games." This means that words and actions can be like games with rules. Nauman used this idea to make art that makes viewers think and participate. For example, some of his artworks use words that tell you to do something, making you part of the "game."
Nauman was also part of the Process Art Movement. This art style focuses on the process of making art, rather than just the final product.
Art Market and Sales
Early on, many of Nauman's supporters were from Europe. His art is now in many private collections and museums.
Some of his large neon artworks have sold for millions of dollars. For example, One Hundred Live and Die (1984) sold for $1.9 million in 1992. His neon work Violins Violence Silence (1981/82) sold for $4 million in 2009.
In 2001, his sculpture Henry Moore Bound to Fail (1967) sold for $9.9 million. This was a record price for art made after World War II at that time. His video work Mapping the Studio (Fat Chance John Cage) (2001), which shows his cat chasing mice, sold for $1.2 million per copy to several museums.
Nauman's art is represented by Sperone Westwater Gallery in New York and Galerie Konrad Fischer in Germany.
See also
In Spanish: Bruce Nauman para niños
