I try to make work that leaves options, or is open-ended in some way
— Bruce Nauman
Bruce Nauman (b. 1941, Fort Wayne, Indiana) is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in postwar and contemporary art. Since the mid-1960s, his work has radically expanded the field, reshaping artistic practice around conceptual, linguistic, spatial, and performative investigations.
Nauman studied at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (BS, 1964), and the University of California, Davis (MFA, 1966), where he arrived at a formative insight: if he was an artist, then anything he did in the studio—moving, speaking, or simply being—could be art. This premise opened a path to an extraordinarily diverse practice that spans sculpture, neon, video, performance, photography, drawing, sound, and large-scale architectural installation. His work continues to test perceptual, spatial, and psychological boundaries, often implicating the viewer directly through repetition, linguistic play, and physical disorientation.
Nauman’s first exhibition with Konrad Fischer Galerie in Düsseldorf in 1968 marked an early milestone in his emerging international career, establishing a relationship that has remained foundational to his exhibition history for more than five decades. That presentation helped introduce his practice to European audiences at a crucial moment, and the gallery has continued to exhibit his work regularly, reflecting a sustained dialogue central to the evolution and visibility of Nauman’s oeuvre.
Following this early period, Nauman became the subject of a succession of major institutional surveys. Early retrospectives organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art (1972–73) played a key role in defining his position within postwar American art. A landmark European survey toured from Whitechapel Art Gallery, London to Kunsthalle Basel and the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in 1986–87. A major retrospective co-organized by the Walker Art Center and the Hirshhorn Museum traveled internationally from 1993 to 1995, followed in subsequent decades by large-scale presentations that examined the scope and evolution of his practice.
Among these were Raw Materials, commissioned for Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall (2004); A Rose Has No Teeth: Bruce Nauman in the 1960s (2007–08); and a survey at Fondation Cartier (2015). Disappearing Acts, a comprehensive retrospective presented at Schaulager, Basel and The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2018–19), offered the most extensive reassessment of his work to date. More recent projects include a major traveling survey organized by Tate Modern (2020–23); Contrapposto Studies at Palazzo Grassi – Punta della Dogana, Venice (2021–22); His Mark at SITE Santa Fe (2023); and an exhibition at Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong (2024).
Nauman’s contributions have been recognized with many of the field’s highest honors, including the Wolf Foundation Prize in Arts (1993), the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the Venice Biennale (1999), the Praemium Imperiale (2004), and the Austrian Frederick Kiesler Prize (2014). He represented the United States at the Venice Biennale in 2009, where the pavilion was awarded the Golden Lion for Best National Participation.
Nauman lives and works in New Mexico, USA.