Bruce Nauman

In 2015, the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain presented a major solo exhibition of American artist Bruce Nauman, the first in over 15 years in France. On this occasion, the artist made a careful selection of recent works never shown in France before, along with some earlier installations, created from a wide array of media that he has explored throughout his career.

Designed in close collaboration with the artist, the book published on this occasion presents this exceptional exhibition through photographs, notes and sketches, and will allow the reader to gain a deeper understanding of a work that defies categorization, somewhere between conceptual and minimalist art.

A prolific artist, recognized as one of the most influential of his generation, Bruce Nauman (b. 1941, Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States) has developed a body of work combining sculpture, video, neon, installation, and performance art since the late 1960s. Bruce Nauman is attached to notions or ideas concerning the body and identity, the function of language, the perception of space, as well as the participation of spectators. He is also particularly interested in the world of dance—the expression of the body in movement. Influenced by his encounter with musician John Cage and choreographer Merce Cunningham, he began producing in 1967 a series of filmed performances in which banal, everyday gestures or simple phrases are repeated in a methodical fashion. In the 1970s and 1980s, he used neon in his works, playing with words, or representing scenes of a sexual nature. His more recent pieces continue to question the ideas or concepts he has explored since the beginning of his career, adding to an exceptionally rich body of work.