Bruce Nauman : the true artist is an absurd fountain
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Authors
Trapani, Alex
Issue Date
2017-02
Type
Dissertation
Language
en
Keywords
Absurd , Conceptual art , Cyclical , Dialetheism , Existentialism , Fountains , Human body , Performance , Subversion , Truth
Alternative Title
Abstract
The work of Bruce Nauman can be understood as an enquiry into the absurd. His work is a critique of art, the artist and society, and is in part viewed as a mediation of stereotypical ‘truth’. The absurd is defined and analysed to elucidate the nature of art and human behaviour by means of literary comparison, in particular of Camus, Sartre and Wittgenstein. This research focusses on Nauman’s subversive performance- based work and analyses how he simulates a particular work of Duchamp. I propose that Nauman espouses human activity into the functionality of objects, such as fountains. My artworks expand on Nauman’s interrogation of the concept of a ‘true artist’ by embodying an absurd fountain as a Sisyphean construct. In contextualising my work in relation to incessant duty, insecurity and double negatives, I offer a regenerative vigour against idolisation of success through contemplation of the artist’s doubt and the absurd.
Description
Link to dataset: https://doi.org/10.25399/UnisaData.14152106.v1
Citation
Trapani, Alex (2017) Bruce Nauman : the true artist is an absurd fountain, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/23276>