Bruce Nauman – Tate Modern, London

Review of Bruce Nauman at Tate Modern. A very attractive exhibition, but I’m still not sure of the ‘so what?’ when it comes to Bruce Nauman’s art.

Back at Tate Modern – Didn’t I Say I Wouldn’t Do This?

Do you remember a couple of months ago when I reviewed Tate Modern’s Andy Warhol exhibition? I counselled against going there until Covid-19 calmed down again? Well it’s a case of ‘do as I say, not as I do’, as I just couldn’t help booking tickets to visit and review Tate Modern’s new Bruce Nauman retrospective. I went there as London was on the verge of Tier 2 measures.

It was quite a different experience though, which I think was partly down to subject matter. The Nauman exhibition was pretty quiet and well-spaced and all around pleasant to visit; whereas when we were on our way back out of the gallery we could see long queues for the Warhol. Maybe just need to avoid the crowd-pleasers right now (see also Artemisia – horrendous). Except of course in those very sensible institutions that have things under control no matter what. Royal Academy and Barbican, I’m looking at you!

Bruce Nauman’s Career in Review at Tate Modern

So what I’m trying to say is that Bruce Nauman is a pretty nice exhibition to see. This must be one of the last exhibitions Nicholas Serota initiated during his tenure at the Tate; it is co-curated by him and former Tate Senior Curator Andrea Lissoni. The full range of Nauman’s artistic output is covered, but isn’t quite arranged chronologically. Instead, works from different phases of his career which develop similar themes have been brought together ‘in conversation’. This means that there are a wide range of media: performance art captured through video and documentation, dedicated video works, sculptures, installations, and of course the neon that he is famous for. Nauman plays with light and space and words very adeptly, imbuing the exhibition with a real sense of fun.

What’s the ‘So What?’ of it All?

What struck me most as I reached the final rooms was that I wasn’t quite sure what the point was. The exhibition guide says that “[t]hroughout his long career, Nauman has refused to assign specific meanings to his artworks. He thereby encourages viewers to bring their own experiences to the work, and to create alternative readings.” Fine, but then how am I supposed to create a picture of what Bruce Nauman is really all about? I don’t seem to be the only one with these questions, by the way. Perhaps I have been to too many contemporary art galleries, but if you had switched all the labels and told me that the early works were Joseph Beuys, the latter by some other minimalists and the videos by Nam June Paik, I wouldn’t have really known the difference.

Maybe this points to Nauman really being a product of his age. If you went to art school in the 1960s it seems that dabbling in performance art and using your body as a medium was par for the course; followed by branching out into different experimental styles and refusing to be pigeon-holed. Given that Nauman wants the viewer to bring their own experiences to his artwork, however, maybe the fact that I didn’t know what to take away from it means that I need to cultivate more experiences of my own and develop a more inventive and interesting personal point of view.

Spinning, Shrieking, Squeezing

There is no doubt, in any case, that the works of Bruce Nauman are memorable; and in many cases very nice to look at as well. Not so much the projections of a spinning, shreiking man’s head (Anthro/Socio (Rinde Spinning), 1992), which will stick in my memory but not for their pleasant associations. But a lot of the neon is fun and interesting and some works are very playful, like Going Around the Corner Piece with Live and Taped Monitors, 1970. In this work, visitors try to glimpse themselves or others in security camera footage beamed to small monitors on the floor.

The Tate has dealt well with the few restrictions that Covid has imposed on this exhibition. For example Double Steel Cage Piece, 1974, is made up of one cage inside another, with a claustrophobic gap through which visitors can normally squeeze themselves. That’s obviously not possible right now, but they still have it on display and have substituted a video which is part bird’s eye view and part first-hand view of someone else having the claustrophobic experience.

Final Thoughts on Bruce Nauman at Tate Modern

So how should I summarise this review of Bruce Nauman at the Tate? all in all this exhibition is a better viewing experience than Andy Warhol, but it just isn’t quite as enlightening. I think Nauman might just be one of those artists where, having now seen one high-quality retrospective, I won’t have any future ones on my ‘must-see’ list. But I would happily spend a quiet afternoon taking in his work if I was at a loose end. Probably not what he was going for, but since he refuses to assign specific meanings to his work, who’s to say I’m wrong?

Salterton Arts Review’s Rating: 3.5/5

Bruce Nauman until 21 February 2021 [subject to change, check gallery website for details]