Bruce Nauman videos

Art is a means to acquiring an investigative activity. I don't know if you can necessarily change things in a broad sense. You can make yourself aware of the possibilities; It is important to do that. -- Bruce Nauman

"Nauman, beyond much dispute, is the most influential American artist of his generation," wrote Time magazine's art critic Robert Hughes in 1995. For nearly forty years, Nauman has staked out new artistic territory with his exploration of video, performance art, neon, holograms and the installation format. In his droll way, Nauman is a comedian and a philosopher who reminds us of life's absurdities, cruelties and chance moments of greater meaning. No matter what his medium, he provokes us to "Pay Attention"--a simple request and a very difficult task.

The exhibition features five pivotal Nauman videos, graciously loaned by area collectors Barbara Balkin Cottle and Robert Cottle: Good Boy Bad Boy, 1985; Violent Incident (Man/Women Segment), 1986; Clown Torture, 1987; Setting a Good Corner (Allegory and Metaphor), 1999; and Office Edit 1 11/11/00, 11/9/00, 11/16/00, 11/19/00 [Mapping the Studio (Fat Chance John Cage)], 2001. These works epitomize Nauman's major themes: the knife's edge between comedy and tragedy; the telling play of language; the dilemma of relationships; the mundanity of real time and homespun labor.

Clown Torture, 1987, for example, features two clowns practicing their shtick. The female clown, dressed in full jester paraphernalia, laughs; and laughs and laughs and laughs. On the opposite monitor, a male clown repeats the same joke over and over again, assuming ever-more awkward and uncomfortable positions. Both figures become menacing and suggest an underlying, inescapable cruelty that is, in the end, not at all funny.

Bruce Nauman was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1941, and studied art, mathematics and physics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison from 1960 to 1964. He then went to study with William T. Wiley and Robert Arneson at the University of California at Davis, and shortly thereafter gave up painting and sculpture for the more experimental art media, which earned him international acclaim. Nauman currently lives and works outside Galisteo, New Mexico.

A free brochure with text by Marilu Knode, senior curator, accompanies the exhibition.

Organized by the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. Made possible in part by Nargess and Ali Salass and the SMoCA Salon.

Brochure supported in part by Barbara Balkin Cottle and Robert Cottle.

Pressetext

Pay Attention
Bruce Nauman videos from the collection of Barbara Balkin Cottle