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REVIEWS
BRUCE NAUMAN,
FAILING
TO
LEVITATE
N
THE
STUDIO.
1966.
BLACK-AND-WHITE
PHOTOGRAPH,
20
X24
IN.
I
2006
BRUCE
NAUMAN/ARTIST
RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS),
NEW
YORK.
SAN
FRANCISCO
A
ROSE
HASNO
TEETH:
BRUCE
NAUMAN
IN
THE
1960S
UC
BERKELEYARTMUSEUMAND
PACIFIC
FILM
ARCHIVE
Walking
around
San
Francisco,
it
was
hard
notto
be
aware
ofthecurrent
Bruce
Naumanretrospective atthe
Berkeley
Art
Museum
and
Pacific
Film
Archive.
Posters
advertisingthe
show
were
plastered
all
over
the
city,
bearingthe
slogan
"The
sixties
redefinedAmerica.
Bruce
Nauman
redefined
the
sixties."PR hype aside,
it'sundeniable
that
"A
Rose
Has
No Teeth: Bruce
Naumanin the
1960s"
is
a
show
long
overdue.
It bringstogether
more
than
100
pieces
spanningthe
years 1965-1970,
including
a
large
number
of
little-known
artist
books,drawings,
photographs,and
earlycollaborative
films-several
of
which
havenever
been exhibited
before,
and
some
of
which
are
previously
unknown-as
wellas
near-canonicalsculptures,
neons,
installations,and performance
pieces
exploring
familiarNaumanthemes
like
repetition,language,the
body,
endurance,andinterior
versus
exterior.
BAM/PFA
promotes the
showas
"thefirst
ever
to
focuson
the
years
Nauman
lived
in the
San
Francisco
Bay
Area," which
is
a
littlemisleading.
Yes,
Naumanspent
his
formativeyears
in
northern
California, first
as
a
graduatestudentat
UC
Davis
from
1964
to
1966,
and
later
in
San
Francisco
teachingsculptureatthe
San
Francisco
ArtInstitute.
But it'ssafe
to
say
that
by
1968
hewas
starting
to
cut
his
ties
tothe
Bay
Area. Naumanspentthe
latter
part
of
that
year at
Roy
Lichtenstein'sstudioin Southampton,equipped, importantly,with
one
of the earliestconsumer
video
cameras,furnished
by
his New
York
dealer,
Leo
Castelli.
Nauman
was
one
of
the first
artists
inthe country to
use
this
new
technology.
Video,
andin
particular
the
ability
torecord withoutassistance
for
an
hour
at
a
time, enabledhim
to
develop some
ofhismost
iconic
performance
pieces
during
this
period.
Many
of
theHamptons
videos
appearin the
exhibition:
Stamping
in
the
Studio
(1968),
for example,
a
black-and-white
video
that
shows
Nauman performing
the titular
actioncontinuously
over
the
course
ofanhour.
In
late
1969
Naumanleft
northern
California
for
good.
Still,
his
years
inthe
Bay
Area
form
a
very
particular
period
in his
career;
one
that
includes
not
only
manyof
the
piecesnow
thought
of
as
canonically
Nauman
but
also
manyof thosemade
before
the
artist
hadperfectedhis
canonical
Nauman.
"A
Rose
Has
No
Teeth" provides
insightinto
a
moment
in
which
both
Nauman's
personaandhis
body
of
work
were
still
more
porousandexperimental
than
they
became
over
the
followingdecades.
Perhaps
one
of
the most
striking
aspects
of
the exhibition
is
the marked
difference
intone andapproachbetween
solo
Bruce-Nauman
alone
inhisstudio-and
social
Bruce-Nauman
collaboratingwith
Bay
Area
artist
friendsandmentors
like
WilliamAllanand William
T. Wiley.
Earlycollaborative
filmslike
FishingforAsian
Carp
(1966),
Smoke
(1966),
and
Untitled
FlourArrangements)
(1967)
combine
laconic
humorwith
a
kind ofbreeziness.
"Breezy"
notbeing anadjectivereadilyassociatedwith Nauman,these
films
are
a nice
surprise.When Nauman
wasalone
inhis studio,
this
carefreequirkinessoften
gave
way
to
a
terseand
much
MAY2007
1
MODERN
PAINTERS
97
 
REVIEWS
darker
approach. "Funny
as
hell," someone
once
called
Nauman,
and
that pretty
much sums
it
up.
Pieces like
SlowAngle Walk (Beckett Walk)
(1968),
for
instance,
in
which
the
artist
performs
a
stiff,
John
Cleese-style walk, continuously
swaying
his
legs
up
then
back
for
an
hour,
beg
one
to question
the function of humor
in
light
of
duration.
In
other
words, when
does
the
joke stop being
funny
and become
painful?
Some
wouldargue
the
laughs
taperoff near the
end
of the time
frame under
examinationat
BAM/PFA,
when
Nauman directs hisassaults
increasingly
towardthe
audience, exploring
the outer limits
of
theartist-spectatorrelationship.
Get Out
ofMy
Mind,
Get
Out
of
This Room
(1968),
a small room
filled only
withthe
soundof Nauman's
hoarse
repetitive
hissing of the
words in
thetitle,
is
a
particularlydisturbing
example.
One
of the strongest undercurrents
of'"A
Rose
Has
No
Teeth" portrays Nauman
as
a
type
of
protopunk
engaged
in
an
intense
investigation
of
failure, breakdown,andwhat can perhaps
best
be described anachronistically
as slacker
fatigue. Probablythe most
literal
work
in
this
respect
is
the
clownish photograph
Failing
o
Levitate
in
the
Studio
(1966),
but
an
attitude
of dejection
is
equally
present
in hisearly
sculptures,
smudged, repetitive,
but
going nowhere;
in
the
fiberglass casts
that
exude
so
much listlessness
one
suspectsthey'd
rather
be
draped
over
a
couch;
and
in
the
pointless boredom-induced
repetition of the Southampton
videos
and
the mental
culs-de-sac of Nauman's
puns.
Seen
inthislight,
it's
hardlysurprising his
work
has
been an
inspiration
for
many
artists of the
"HelterSkelter"generation and continues
to
be
so
for
artists
today.Despite its many
coups
in
landing important
works,
"A
Rose
Has
No
Teeth"
showssigns
of
theobstaclesencountered
by
anysmall
institution
developing
an ambitious
show: some iconic pieces were
simplynot lent out
(the
1967
From
Hand
to
Mouth,
for example),
and the
show
is
traveling
to
just
two
other
venues, only one
of
which
is
in the
US
(the
Menil Collection
in Houston).
Curator
Constance
Lewallen's
carefulselection compensates
for obvious
missing
pieces by
including studies and drawings;
the limited itinerary
ismore
regrettable
andshould
provoke some
soul-searching.This
show is one
of he most
important
of
the
season: a rigorously researched andthoughtfully
curated
consideration
of
animpressive body of
work.
It
deserves
a
wideraudience
than
those
dogged
enough
to
make
the trek
to
Berkeley,
Houston,
or
Turin
(at the
Castello
diRivoliMuseo d'Arte
Contemporanea).
Not
only
is
this
early
protean
Nauman
compulsively
addictive,
but it
isalso exactly
this
body of
work
that
continues
to
influencecontemporary practices today.
-YASMINE
VAN
PEE
AMANDA
ROSS-HO,
MANTLE,
2007.
INCISED
SHEETROCK,MOUNTED
AND
FRAMED
ARCHIVAL
LIGHT-JET
PRINT,
DIMENSIONS
VARIABLE.
PHOTO
ROBERT WEDEMEYER, COURTESYCHERRY
AND
MARTIN,
LOS
ANGELES.
LOSANGELES
AMANDA
ROSS-HO
CHERRYAND
MARTIN
Amanda
Ross-Ho's
recent
show,
"Nothin
Fuckin
Matters," expanded
on
her
ability
to
create
disparate
unions,
mixing
in
her
assemblages
not
only
media
but
also
unexpected
formal
and cultural
references
(think
John
McCracken'ssensibility
as
interpreted
by
Punky
Brewster, or
Claes
Oldenburg
raiding alumberyard)
to
create subtly
rhetorical
moves.
Sad
Sack
(all
works
2007)
is
a
six-
foot-tall
tote
bag made
from
an
oversize
canvas
drop
cloth
used
forcommercial
TIM
HAWKINSON,
OCTOPUS,
2006.
PHOTOGRAPHIC
COLLAGE
MOUNTED
ON FOAM,
7
FT101/2
IN
X14
FTX21/2
IN.
COURTESYTHEARTIST,LOSANGELES,
©
2007TIM
HAWKINSON.
painting.
Inside are
"sculpture remnants":
pieces
of bandanna-covered planks,
two-by-fours,
and
sheets
of
drywall
that
become
haphazardly
arrayed bones
within the
bag's
wrinkled
skin.The showalso
features a group of
archivalink-jet
prints-images
like
the frowning arrowsfound
on
an
Amazon.com
shipping
box-which
the
artist
hung
onSheetrockpanels
that
leanedagainst the
gallery's
permanent
walls. Giving
this
partial
architecture
a
sculptural
weight,
Ross-
Hocut notches
and apertures into
the
building material and inserted
objects
intothe
openings
(high-top
sneakers
splattered with
paint,
a
cushion
shaped
like
a
trout,
anda
small
fish
charm).
The heavy,
materialqualityof
Ross-Ho's
sculptures
is
offset
by
hersmart
play
with
negative space.
Above
the
work
Mantle-a
holecut
intothe
gallery
wall
that
exposed
insulation and
studs-the
artist
hungan
image
ofthe earth printed
in
photographic
negative. The
structural
interruption and the
print
engaged
in
a
pun-the
hearth
and the
earth-that
flauntsRoss-Ho'smischievous
attentionto
language,
an essential milieu in
which
her
work
operates.
-CATHERINE
TAFT
TIM
HAWKINSON:
ZOOPSIA
GETTYCENTER
Tim Hawkinson'sexhibition
of
new work
was
inspired
by
both
zoology
and
an
unconscious
penchant
for
random
visual
associations-atraitthat
Hawkinson
and
animals
apparently share.
"Zoopsia,"
the
exhibition's
title,
refers
to
the
study
of
visual
hallucinations
in
animals.
The
frenetic shapes
and
drippy lines in
the
painting
Dragon
(2007)
read
as
a
tangle
of
vines,
but
on
further
contemplation
the
tea-colored surface yields
the
forms
of
mythical
animals
engaged in
an
epic
struggle. The
photographic
collage
Octopus
(2006)
presents
a
tentacled
sea
predator
made
from
scanned pictures
of
Hawkinson's
hands and
his
own
(slightly
disgusting)
pink,
puckeredlips.
By
contrast, the understatedhandmade
sculpture
Leviathon
(2007)
is a
conceptual
and
visual
pun.
The
spinal
columns
and
rib
cage
of
what
appears
to
be
an extinct
species
of
fish
are
reimagined
as
a
bowed procession
of
galley
slaves,
the
long
tapering
ribsformingthe
oars.
The
jawbone
is
formed
by
the bent
legs
of
an
inverted
male
figurewhose
head
is
nestled
in
towardthe
body.
Leviathon,
while
seeming
to
be
made of
plaster,
is
made of
the
quotidian craft
supplies
Sculpey andCrayola Model Magic,
inserting
a
bit
of
humor into
what
would
otherwise
be
a
dry,
academic
showdown
betweenartand
science.
-SHANA
NYS
DAMBROT
98
MODERN
PAINTERS
I
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