BRUCE NAUMAN

Bruce Nauman works with sculpture, photography, neon, video, drawing, printmaking and performance art. He has a mathematics and physics background. His work focuses around his interest in language - often playful but he has very serious concerns at the heart of his practice, he is fascinated by the nature of communication.
Frustrated by the human condition, he approaches art making as if creating an ongoing series of experiments in which all the diverse areas of human activity - including written and spoken language, and physical behaviour - are tested.

'my work comes out of being frustrated about the human condition. And about how people refuse to understand other people. Its not that I think I can change that, but its just such a frustrating part of human history'

This video - 'Walking in an Exaggerated Manner Around the Perimeter of a Square' - 1967-68 asks the question - is he doing this to amuse or trying to communicate the mundane aspects of everyday life?

Martin Creed(Turner Prize Winner 2001) about Nauman - 'I think h'es the King, basically - Elvis!'

I find his work fascinating especially his performance art work, using himself as a subject expresses exactly what he wants it to show. This is the way I worked last year, using yourself to create and show an opinion and narrate it through photography and video. This time I am creating a feeling or opinion through another (my sitter) and getting them to express it.