{"data":{"id":"939","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":939,"topgoose_id":1229,"tms_id":939,"display_name":"Bruce Nauman","sort_name":"Nauman Bruce","display_date":"1941–","begin_date":"1941","end_date":"0","biography":"\u003cp\u003eIn 1966 Bruce Nauman rented studio space in San Francisco, which for the recent college graduate “raised the fundamental question of what an artist does when left alone in the studio.” “My conclusion,” he reflected, “was that I was an artist and I was in the studio, then whatever it was I was doing in the studio must be art.” The images that constitute the portfolio \u003cem\u003eEleven Color Photographs\u003c/em\u003e represent activities and objects in Nauman’s studio— often ordinary such as\u003ca href=\"/collection/works/5708\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003cem\u003eCold Coffee Thrown\nAway\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e. This literal quality takes on a playful aspect in other photographs, which make visual puns of their title phrases by enacting or staging them: \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/5706\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eBound to Fail\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003edepicts Nauman’s arms restrained by rope; \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/5709\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eDrill Team\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e documents a row of drill bits; and \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/5710\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eEating My Words\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e records him spreading jam on bread shaped into letters.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn these photographs, Nauman performs and embodies language, giving it physical form in often comedic ways as in \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/5714\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eSelf Portrait as a Fountain\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e, where he becomes a fountain, spewing water from his mouth. The title of this work also evokes \u003ca href=\"/artists/1715\"\u003eMarcel Duchamp\u003c/a\u003e’s \u003cem\u003eFountain\u003c/em\u003e (1917) and its attendant questioning of what constitutes an aesthetic object—an issue that is also central to Nauman’s work. Indeed this group of photographs augurs a number of the concerns of his restlessly inventive and diverse output of the past fifty years: inquiries into the definition of the artistic act, the body as a subject, and the ability of language to shape perception and guide meaning.\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500118742","wikidata_id":"Q168665","created_at":"2017-08-30T16:14:04.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-04-25T01:31:27.500-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/939/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/939/exhibitions"}}}}