Bruce Nauman

Bruce Nauman , 1941-, American artist, b. Fort Wayne, Ind.; studied Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison (B.A., 1964), Univ. of California, Davis (M.F.A., 1966). One of the most innovative and influential contemporary American artists, he has worked in many media, including sculpture (fiberglass, neon, rubber, and other materials), drawing, photography, video, film, holograms, prints, performance, and installations. Highly conceptual and concerned with the process of making art, Nauman displays a witty, irreverant, and frequently ironic sensibility in work that varies from casts of his own body, e.g., From Hand to Mouth (1967, Hirshhorn Mus., Washington, D.C.) to flashing neon signs that frequently pun, employ homonyms, and otherwise play with language, e.g., None Sing (1970, Guggenheim Mus.), and a variety of videotape installations, e.g., Clown Torture (1987, Art Inst. of Chicago) and Mapping the Studio I (Fat Chance John Cage) (2001).

Bibliography: See J. Kraynak, ed., Please Pay Attention Please: Bruce Nauman's Words: Writings and Interviews (2003); studies by J. Livingston and M. Tucker (1972), C. van Bruggen (1988), N. Benezra (1994), R. C. Morgan, ed. (2002), and S. Cross, ed. (2003).

Nauman, Bruce (1941– ). American experimental artist, born at Fort Wayne, Indiana. He studied mathematics, physics, and art at the University of Wisconsin, then did two years' postgraduate study at the University of California, Davis, 1964–6. In 1965 he gave up painting and has subsequently worked in fields that have been variously described as Body art, Conceptual art, or Performance art. His early work included wax casts of parts of his own body and holographic self-images. In the 1970s he became interested in viewer participation, setting up sculptural ‘situations’ with which they could interact, but in the 1980s he returned to objects. His work has been represented in many major exhibitions and in 1991 he won the city of Frankfurt's Max Beckmann Prize. Since 1979 he has lived in New Mexico.