Elusive Signs: Bruce Nauman Works with Light [Paperback]

Joseph Ketner II (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 3, 2006

Intrigued and inspired by the neon beer signs on shopfronts in his San Francisco neighborhood, Bruce Nauman created his first neon piece, Window or Wall Sign, in 1967. He wanted, he said, to achieve "an art that would kind of disappear--that was supposed to not quite look like art." Light offered Nauman a medium both elusive and effervescent, but one that could also aggressively convey a message. Over the first three decades of his career, Nauman used the medium of light to explore the twists and turns of perception, logic, and meaning with the earnest playfulness that characterizes all his art. Elusive Signs focuses on the discrete body of Nauman's work that uses neon and fluorescent light in signs and room installations, and includes images of nearly all Nauman's work with light.After Window or Wall Sign, Nauman embarked on a series of neons that grappled with the semiotics of body and identity, and with My Name as Though it Were Written on the Surface of the Moon (1968), he forces the viewer to contemplate the role of naming in forming identity. Language--signs and symbols--plays an important role in Nauman's art. His later neon works emphasize the neon as a sign, presenting provocative twists of language and offering harsh and humorous sociopolitical commentary in such pieces as Run from Fear, Fun from Rear (1972). This series culminates in the monumental, billboard-size One Hundred Live and Die (1984), which employs overwhelming scale to bombard the viewer with sardonic aphorisms. In incisive essays that accompany the images of Nauman's work, Joseph Ketner II of the Milwaukee Art Museum (which originated the exhibit this book accompanies) and critics Janet Kraynak and Gregory Volk analyze the works in light both as a body of work and as an access point to Nauman's entire career.Distributed for the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Images of nearly all Bruce Nauman's signs and room installation using neon and fluorescent light, from Window or Wall Sign (1967) to the monumental One Hundred Live and Die (1984), accompanied by interpretive essays.

Product Details

• Paperback: 100 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (March 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0944110835
• ISBN-13: 978-0944110836
• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 9.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,788,608 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Bruce Nauman and Emily Dickinson - Together at Last? With Clowns?, August 19, 2007

By 

Margaret Hanson (Land of Lakes) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Elusive Signs: Bruce Nauman Works with Light (Paperback)

Who knew? The 19th century poet Emily Dickinson and the contemporary artist Bruce Nauman are on the same wave-length, at least according to the author of one of the essays in this exhibition catalogue.

Gregory Volk writes * ...two Americas are twined: an America of religious vision and another America of spectacle.* Whatever comparison follows is at best disjointed, completely ignoring the distances inherent in time and place, assuming that these two individuals share a world-view, and thus an artistic sensibility. Volk assumes that clowns are the subject of Nauman's neon light works, and that Dickinson's interests are in the circus of human relations. This is a mix-and-match approach to art criticism that is ridiculous at best, irresponsible at worst, and as I read the essay I was tempted to sing *Send In The Clowns.*

The only intelligently written essay in this exhibition catalogue comes from Janet Kraynak, who uses scholarship and research to reach her conclusions. Kraynak places Nauman's work in the context of his peers, examining his influences and strategies for developing his body of work. This is challenging reading, and as Kraynak respects the intelligence of her reader, the ideas are not watered-down. Those who have some familiarity with the complex ideas that permeate contemporary art will appreciate this challenging essay.

The first essay in the book, written by Joseph Ketner, is banal and forgettable, adding nothing new to the discussion.

I'm not sure who the intended reader of this book is supposed to be. If you feel that contemporary art is a circus, then this may be the book for you.

This exhibition catalog is an embarrassment to The MIT Press.
Bruce Nauman deserves better.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Focus on neon light limits understanding, December 8, 2006

By 

e-nonymous "e-nonymous" (Great Lakes region) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Elusive Signs: Bruce Nauman Works with Light (Paperback)

For those interested in the works of Bruce Nauman, this exhibition catalog serves as a visual guide to Nauman's light works. The difficulty here is that Nauman's work encompasses far more than neon, and limiting the exhibition hinders our understanding of the art. A sampling of the video works would have greatly assisted the viewer to complete the Nauman picture. Alone, the neon works appear to be Pop art descendants, relating more to Lichtenstein than to another source: the Minimalist influences of Robert Morris and Donald Judd.

The catalog essays further confuse the reader. Only one of the three, written by Janet Kraynak, properly identify and elucidate his work, expanding our understanding and directing our attention to sources outside the work itself. Kraynak is a respected Nauman scholar, having earned a PhD from MIT with a dissertation on Nauman. She discusses Nauman's work in relation to the index of the cast artist's body, devoting most of her discussion to Nauman's early works from the 1960s.

It is truly unfortunate that Kraynak's essay is grouped with those less carefully written. Gregory Volk's contribution is especially perplexing. Clearly a lover of language and literature, Volk focuses on Nauman's neon works that utilize language, but rather than situate Nauman alongside Kosuth (or any other contemporary artist using language!), Volk chooses to discuss Nauman in conjunction with the poet Emily Dickenson. Out of place, and out of time -- certainly a peculiar combination and a mixed reading is the result.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Superficial and Flimsy, December 28, 2006

By 

Jack Ringgold (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Elusive Signs: Bruce Nauman Works with Light (Paperback)

I checked this book out of the library to see if it was worth purchasing. Sorry, no sale.

First, it is about the size and thickness of a typical magazine - there are fewer than 100 pages. Yes, there are a lot of glossy reproductions, but as this exhibition focuses only on Bruce Nauman's neon light works, the reader is left with the impression that this is all that Nauman does. Without any reproductions of his installation work, video pieces or (my favorite) his early body and space casts, it appears that Nauman is instead primarily interested in neon word games and neon clowns engaged in sex acts. Ridiculous!

I was hoping to find some intelligent writing on Bruce Nauman's use of language, connecting him to other contemporary artists who also use language. I am disappointed that this catalog skimps on this important aspect of Bruce Nauman's thinking.

One article in this book seems to be thoughtfully written, focusing on Nauman's use of his body in forming his early sculptures. But these works are mostly missing from the exhibition!

Pass on this book - there MUST be better, more intelligent writing on Bruce Nauman. I'm going to keep looking.