Bruce Nauman Exhibition
Major Montréal exhibition in summer 2007

Presented at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal from May 26 to September 3, 2007

Montréal, October 20, 2006 - The exhibition Bruce Nauman, to be held at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal from May 26 to September 3, 2007, is both a Québec and a Canadian first.

American artist Bruce Nauman (born in 1941) is a leading figure in contemporary art who has had a sizable influence on generations of artists for more than forty years. Following a rigorous, innovative approach, he has explored various means of expression including sculpture, film, video, performance, holography, drawing, neon lights and installation. His whole body of work prompts us to consider how we perceive the real world around us and raises incisive questions about our existential condition. Nauman has made body language an integral part of his investigations, and the leitmotiv that allows him to convey, with disconcerting aptness, the passage of time, the repetitiveness that colours everyday life, the ritual of insignificant gestures, and the resulting self-awareness.

Nauman enjoys an outstanding reputation on the international art scene, and has been the subject of numerous major exhibitions around the world. He is one of the top American artists of the twentieth century.

This exhibition devoted to one of today’s greatest living artists (according to ArtNews magazine) consists of two separate but complementary parts. Elusive Signs: Bruce Nauman Works with Light, originally organized by the Milwaukee Art Museum, comprises a remarkable series of some fifteen neon sculptures, creating an environment that encompasses visitors and produces a powerful yet enigmatic effect on them. Neon tubes fill the space, sometimes forming word games. These light works apply irony and humour to the contradictions inherent in the human condition—sex/violence, life/death, pleasure/pain, etc. Aphorisms, poignant sayings, and grotesque and tragic figures, incorporated into the material itself of commercial signs, form a vibrant, luminous whole that draws in, intrigues and provokes visitors, all at once. The many references to clowns in Nauman’s works express sadness as much as joy.

As well, this summer 2007 presentation at the Musée affords us an opportunity to broaden the project’s scope and offer the public an additional selection of major pieces from Nauman’s overall artistic output. Nauman is considered one of the pioneers, in the late sixties and early seventies, of what is now commonly referred to as “installation art.” This practice involves creating a structure within a space, or using the existing architecture to place viewers in a situation in which their perception of the space will be transformed. It is in this spirit that a recent major work entitled One Hundred Fish Fountain will be presented in Montréal. This installation in the form of a fountain is made up of 97 bronze fish suspended with stainless-steel wire from a metal grid over a basin of water.

The Montréal presentation will be the only Canadian stop on the world tour of this exhibition.

Certain works by Bruce Nauman contain scenes that may disturb some viewers.

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Source :
Eric Bilodeau
Tourist Clientele Coordinator
Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal
Tel.: (514) 847-6236
Fax: (514) 847-6291
eric.bilodeau@macm.org

Information:
Danielle Legentil
Media Relations Officer
Tel.: (514) 847-6232
E-mail: danielle.legentil@macm.org