Bruce Nauman

kitchenknight

Profile on him in this week's New Yorker.I love his work; and, unlike many, it has aged with me since I discovered it at age 21. Almost immediately after, there was a review of Francis Bacon's Met show, and I couldn't care less.In my wooing emails to my wife, I included a quote from his work. His work is unsettling, and I'm better for it- as Marcia Tucker said:"I don't mind being bored for 20 minutes if it gives me something to think about for 20 years."As he said:"Run From Fear - Fun From Rear"

kitchenknight

batmon

I rides for dude.

Back in high-skool, the art teacher took us thru Soho,and we saw this show.

1985/86 - It was one my first ever trip thru Soho when shit was happening.

Ive been fortunate to install his stuff over the years.

He is one a the few cats in the game who isnt locked into one medium, and is quite successful at executing a broad range of shit.

batmon

there was a review of Francis Bacon's Met show, and I couldn't care less.

Me either, but I saw that last big retrospective here in NYC back in the 90's.

Bacon can paint like a muthafucka, but Im not interested to see a gang of works this time around.

I could be missing some stuff that wasnt included last time. Whatever.
The catalog will show up here at the Center eventualy.

bassie

Thanks for the heads up - will have to pick it up.

He is one a the few cats in the game who isnt locked into one medium, and is quite successful at executing a broad range of shit.

Yes.

I'm a big fan. Saw a retospective a long time ago in London and got a spoken tour with Tracey Emin! His work is among the few I can stand that is text-based.

The_Hook_Up

there was a review of Francis Bacon's Met show, and I couldn't care less.

Me either, but I saw that last big retrospective here in NYC back in the 90's.

Bacon can paint like a muthafucka, but Im not interested to see a gang of works this time around.

I could be missing some stuff that wasnt included last time. Whatever.
The catalog will show up here at the Center eventualy.

that same big retrospective in the 90s came to Fort Worth as well and I have to admit, I went about a half-dozen times, I love his work.


but back to Bruce, his work that had the biggest reaction out of me, was the room he designed solely to make the occupant uncomfortable...the weird lighting, the odd angles, the gross yellow color...musta been an installation nightmare. But just standing in that "room" for more about 5 minutes was very unsettling...

kitchenknight

Francis Bacon could paint, no doubt... Just that he seems to have occupied his own terrain, and that's about it. Jerry Saltz just wrote a long profile of him in NYMag that really illuminated how his process stagnated late in his career, and he was content to do the same things over and over.

On the other hand, Nauman has a much more restless aesthetic, which explains his work in so many different media. His work is not 'pretty,' but it gets a visceral reaction- humor, discomfort, fear... It's fascinating, and I always seem to learn something from it.

His struggles to reinvent his work- and, as the article indicates, they are STRUGGLES- is what makes him a more compelling artist to me than Bacon. The struggle to create something new, the bravery/stupidity to try something new, and then the ability to SUCCEED is really impressive.