Study for Holograms

Bruce NaumanWW-1970-118538

1970·Screenprint on Kromekote paper·66 × 66 cm (26 × 26 in.)

<p>Derived from one of a series of photographs, this screenprint depicts the lower half of the artist's face with exaggerated expressions. The focus is the subject's mouth and its transformation by squeezing, stretching, and pulling. The performative imagery convey the body as a plastic form that can be manipulated. Fundamentally arbitrary, the facial gestures are expected to evoke an emotional response from the viewer. After photographing the faces, Nauman filmed them. He eventually decided to translate them into holograms, since he felt that the medium more suitably captured their sculptural form and meaning.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1970
Medium: Screenprint on Kromekote paper
Dimensions: 66 × 66 cm (26 × 26 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Bruce Nauman

Artist

Bruce Nauman

Sculpture

Bruce Nauman is widely regarded as one of the most influential American artists living today. The artist’s radically experimental works defy easy categorization, blending the styles and approaches of Conceptual Art, Performance art, Minimalism and video art. His heterogeneous and thought-provoking oeuvre showcases Nauman’s analytical deconstruction of aesthetic and physical experience through novel engagements with language and the body. Often imbued with satirical and socio-political undertones, his confrontational artworks draw upon various formal strategies, from clever word play to large-scale sculptural arrangements, which disorient viewers’ bodies and perceptual assumptions.

Fort Wayne, United States

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