Bruce Nauman is an American artist born in 1941 in Indiana. He studied mathematics, physics, and art in university, giving up painting in 1964 to focus on sculpture, performance, and film collaborations. Nauman creates conceptually-driven works that use language and the body to explore states of being and the role of the artist. He is interested in how processes themselves can become art. Nauman established a home and studio in New Mexico in 1989 where he continues to live and work with his wife Susan Rothenberg.

1. BRUCE NAUMAN
By Rose Occhino

2. LIFE
• Born in 1941 in Fort Wayne, Indiana
• Father’s work as an engineer for
General Electric meant that the
family moved regularly
• He studied mathematics and
physics at the University of
Wisconsin–Madison (1960–64)
• Art with William T. Wiley and
Robert Arneson at the University of
California, Davis (1965–6)
• In 1964 he gave up painting to
dedicate himself to sculpture,
performance and cinema
collaborations
• In 1989, he established a home and
studio in Galisteo, New Mexico,
where he continues to work and
live along with his wife, the painter
Susan Rothenberg.
Human/Need/Desire, 1983

3. WORK
• “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.”
• Set up a studio in a former grocery
shop in San Francisco
• Between 1966 and 1970 he made
several videos, in which he used his
body to explore the potentials of art
and the role of the artist, and to
investigate psychological states and
behavioral codes
• Much of his work is characterized by
an interest in language, often
manifesting itself in a playful,
mischievous manner
Run from Fear -- Fun from Rear, 1972

4. MEANINGS
• There are however, very serious
concerns at the heart of Nauman's
practice
• Fascinated by the nature of
communication and language's
inherent problems
• The role of the artist as supposed
communicator and manipulator of
visual symbols
• Concentrates less on the
development of a characteristic style
and more on the way in which a
process can become a work of art
• alternately political, prosaic, spiritual,
and crass methods to view life The True Artist Helps the World by Revealing Mystic
Truths, 1967

5. Fifteen Pairs of Hands, 1996

6. 100 Live and Die, 1984

7. Carousel, 1988

8. Perfect Door/Perfect Odor/Perfect Rodo, 1972

9. SCULPTURE
• Inspired by Nauman’s use of
words
• Origami letters
• “K” made out clear scotch
tape
• Other letters made using
black paper