Bruce Nauman Quotes

• What I am really concerned about is what art is supposed to be – and can become.

  Bruce Nauman

  Topics in Art

• In this case we’re building a corner to stretch a fence and hang a gate. It had a real purpose in the ranch here. I needed to do this. But at the same time, it made a beautiful structure.

  Bruce Nauman

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Case, Corner

• In the studio, I don’t do a lot of work that requires repetitive activity. I spend a lot of time looking and thinking and then try to find the most efficient way to get what I want, whether it’s making a drawing or a sculpture, or casting plaster or whatever.

  Bruce Nauman

  Topics in Work

• In art, the only one who really knows whether what you’ve done is honest is the artist.

  Bruce Nauman

  Topics in Art

• If you really want to do it, you do it. There are no excuses.

  Bruce Nauman

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Really, Want

• If you choose the wrong questions and you proceed, you still get a result, but it’s not interesting.

  Bruce Nauman

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Choose

• I’ll talk. You’ll listen.

  Bruce Nauman

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Talk

• I like to use my hands and make things… It might seem pretty stupid or pointless but that doesn’t matter… some of the most interesting work is the stuff that starts like that – out of a raw need for activity.

  Bruce Nauman

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Things

• I don’t like to think about being an influence. It’s embarrassing.

  Bruce Nauman

  Topics in Influence

• Generalised anger and frustration is something that gets you in the studio, and gets you to work – though it’s not necessarily evident in anything that’s finished.

  Bruce Nauman

  Topics in Anger

  Tags in Frustration

• But part of the enjoyment I take in it is finding the most efficient way to do it, which doesn’t mean the corrections aren’t made. I like to have a feeling of the whole task before I start, even if it changes.

  Bruce Nauman

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Enjoyment

• But if you can find that spot – I suppose it’s like running – I used to be a swimmer and swim laps, and you just have to be there with what you’re doing.

  Bruce Nauman

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Find, Suppose

• And then what makes the work interesting is if you choose the right questions.

  Bruce Nauman

  Topics in Work

• And so I put down some of the things that he said, about keeping your tools sharpened and not letting them lie on the ground where they get hurt or get abused and dirty and can’t find them. And some thoughts about how his father used to do things.

  Bruce Nauman

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Some, Things

• And I don’t have any specific steps to take because I don’t start the same way every time. But there is a knowing when it’s enough and you can leave it alone.

  Bruce Nauman

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Specific

Bruce Nauman (15)

Birth:	6th December, 1941
Nationality:	American
Profession:	Artist

About

Bruce Nauman was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He is a contemporary American artist. His practice spans a broad range of media including sculpture, photography, neon, video, drawing, printmaking, and performance. He studied mathematics and physics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. In 1964 he gave up painting to dedicate himself to sculpture, performance and cinema collaborations with William Allan and Robert Nelson. He worked as an assistant to Wayne Thiebaud. Upon graduation, he taught at the San Francisco Art Institute from 1966 to 1968, and at the University of California at Irvine in 1970.

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Today's Anniversary - 20th January

Births

• 1966 - Rainn Wilson
• 1978 - Michael East
• 1894 - Walter Piston
• 1952 - Paul Stanley
• 1964 - Fareed Rafiq Zakaria

Deaths

• 2011 - Reynolds Price
• 1962 - Robinson Jeffers
• 1867 - Nathaniel Parker Willis
• 1990 - Barbara Stanwyck
• 1989 - Beatrice Lillie