Voting Station

Bruce Nauman

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Artist

The Resume

    (December 6, 1941- )
    Born in Fort Wayne, Indiana
    Multi-media artist, including sculpture, photography, neon lighting, video and performance art
    Works include 'Self-Portrait of the Artist as a Fountain,' 'Changing Light Corridor with Rooms,' 'Human/Need/Desire,' 'Vices and Virtues,' 'World Peace,' 'Learned Helplessness in Rats (Rock and Roll Drummer),' 'Raw Materials,' 'Leave the Land Alone,' 'Days' and 'For Beginners (all the combinations of the thumb and fingers)'

Why he might be annoying:

    While in art school, he gave up painting, saying that the medium 'got in the way.'
    He often fails to show at exhibition openings and sends other people to accept awards.
    He said he wanted to make art that was 'like getting hit in the face with a baseball bat. Or better, like getting hit in the back of the neck.'
    Many of his video pieces feature actors engaged in bizarre, repetitive behavior. (Such as the clown screaming 'No!' over and over in 'Clown Torture.')
    He created several installations consisting of confining corridors and rooms, creating a sense of claustrophobia. For some, he recorded visitors' panicky reactions.
    'Time' art critic Robert Hughes wrote that he staked out the role of 'the artist as a nuisance.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    The Whitney Museum in New York held a career retrospective of his work when he was only 31.
    Many of his works are based on irony and wordplay.
    His influences include philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, author Samuel Beckett and composer John Cage.
    Robert Hughes called him 'the most influential American artist of his generation.'
    'Art in America' described him as 'the best -- the essential -- American artist of the last quarter century.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 8 Votes: 37.50% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 9 Votes: 77.78% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 21 Votes: 52.38% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 10 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 131 Votes: 51.15% Annoying