A Rose Has No Teeth: Bruce Nauman in the 1960s

Bruce Nauman : Infrared Outtakes : Neck Pull (photographed by Jack Fulton), 1968/2006 ; four Epson UltraChrome K3 inkjet prints ; 20 x 28 in. each ; University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, gift of the artist and Gemini G.E.L. LLC. Copyright 2006 Bruce Nauman / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) presents A Rose Has No Teeth : Bruce Nauman in the 1960s, a major exhibition of early work by Bruce Nauman, one of the most influential artists working today. The exhibition is the first ever to focus on the years Nauman lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, and features the full range of his work from the 1960s, when he laid the foundation for all of his subsequent, ground-breaking work in sculpture, performance, and film and video art.

Curated by Constance Lewallen, BAM/PFA senior curator, the exhibition will provide new research and insight into a vital early stage of Nauman's career. Featured in the exhibition will be more than 100 works - several of which have never been exhibited before - including drawings, sculpture, neon reliefs, photographs, films, videos, sound and text works, installations, artist books, and ephemera. A Rose Has No Teeth : Bruce Nauman in the 1960s will be on view at BAM/PFA from Wednesday, January 17 through Sunday, April 15, 2007, before touring Europe and the United States.

Nauman is widely regarded as being among the most important living American artists. His work employs forms that range from Post-Minimalism and Conceptual art to film and video and installation art, through which a series of themes and ideas consistently appear : the use of the body as a material ; the integration of art and language ; the relationship of art and architecture ; and such dichotomies as concealment and revelation, interior and exterior, and positive and negative space, among others.

Calling Nauman's work “more pertinent than ever,” the New York Times recently stated : “A pioneer in Post-Minimalist video and performance art, and a sculptor of seemingly limitless versatility, Mr. Nauman has been famous and critically admired since he arrived on the scene…and his work has exerted an important influence on contemporary art ever since.”

Film Series at the Pacific Film Archive
Bruce Nauman was not alone in his exploration of video as an artistic medium. In conjunction with the exhibition, the Pacific Film Archive will present Then, Not Nauman : Conceptualists of the Early Seventies, a series showcasing video works by early-1970s Conceptual artists.

Catalogue
Published by University of California Press, A Rose Has No Teeth : Bruce Nauman in the 1960s, the 256-page, illustrated catalogue, includes essays by Anne Wagner, Robert Storr, Robert Riley ; and Constance Lewallen. Contact the Museum Store at (510) 642-1475 or visit the store online at http://bampfa.berkeley.edu/resources/museumstore_books/

Tour Schedule
BAM/PFA, January 17 - April 15, 2007
Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, May 23 - September 9, 2007
The Menil Collection, October 12, 2007 - January 13, 2008.