A rose has no teeth : Bruce Nauman, 1965-1974

Abstract

This dissertation develops a critical reading of the early work of the American artist, Bruce Nauman, who, in the mid-sixties, began creating a highly diverse and eclectic oeuvre--including discrete sculpture, photographic and text pieces, video and audio installations, neon signs, and cast body parts. While most studies focus on either one medium, theme, or body of work for review, I take a synthetic approach, arguing that the failure to locate the coherence of Nauman's art is due to the challenges it proposes theoretically and art historically. In the literature, the art of the late sixties is frequently divided into two strains of practice, which are seen as mutually exclusive--one defined through models of language, the other through the body and performance. Nauman's art, however, undermines the legitimacy of these divisions. As such, I propose that it raises philosophical and theoretical questions regarding the meanings of language, action, the body, experience, and subjectivity, resulting in the necessity for an art historical re-evaluation of their significance. The point of departure for my investigation is Nauman's reception of Minimalist sculpture, which challenged the traditional idea of medium and interrogated the perceptual conditions of the art object. I propose that Nauman' art, however, lends historical and social specificity to this project, responding to the extraordinary growth of technology and expansions of media in the sixties, which were, paradoxically, accompanied by a philosophical critique of the subject.

(cont.) As a result, I suggest that Nauman's practice overcomes the abstract notions of experience and limited definition of subjectivity Minimalism proposes. By examining the multiple material forms his investigation takes, I conclude that the very opacity of Nauman's art emerge as an embodiment--or an enactment--of its meanings. From enigmatic body sculptures, which are frequently mistitled, to proposals for impossible performances, to the use of confining architectural spaces mediated by sound, light, and video recordings, the potentiality for communication (linguistic, perceptual) to fail or manipulate can be recognized as a central theme of Nauman's technically and stylistically diverse, but conceptually consistent, work.