Video History Project

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Bruce Nauman

Born in 1941 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Bruce Nauman has been recognized since the early 1970s as one of the most innovative and provocative of America's contemporary artists. Nauman finds inspiration in the activities, speech, and materials of everyday life. Confronted with "What to do?" in his studio soon after graduating from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1964 with a BFA, and then the University of California, Davis in 1966 with an MFA, Nauman had the simple but profound realization that "If I was an artist and I was in the studio, then whatever I was doing in the studio must be art. At this point art became more of an activity and less of a product." Working in the diverse mediums of sculpture, video, film, printmaking, performance, and installation, Nauman concentrates less on the development of a characteristic style and more on the way in which a process or activity can transform or become a work of art.

A survey of his diverse output demonstrates the alternately political, prosaic, spiritual, and crass methods by which Nauman examines life in all its gory details, mapping the human arc between life and death. The text from an early neon work proclaims: "The true artist helps the world by revealing mystic truths." Whether or not we -- or even Nauman -- agree with this statement, the underlying subtext of the piece emphasizes the way in which the audience, artist, and culture at large are involved in the resonance a work of art will ultimately have. Nauman lives in New Mexico.

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"Bruce Nauman." Video History Project, Experimental Television Center, 2011. https://www.videohistoryproject.org/bruce-nauman.

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Summary

Bruce Nauman, born 1941 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, was educated at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (BFA, 1964) and the University of California, Davis (MFA, 1966) and has been recognized since the early 1970s as an innovative and provocative American contemporary artist; he finds inspiration in the activities, speech, and materials of everyday life and reconceived studio action itself as art. He works across sculpture, video, film, printmaking, performance, and installation and uses alternately political, prosaic, spiritual, and crass methods to examine life and the arc between life and death. An early neon work contains the text The true artist helps the world by revealing mystic truths; he lives in New Mexico.

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Last modified 18 June 2011

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