SITE Santa Fe presents internationally acclaimed artist Bruce Nauman’s first solo exhibition in New Mexico, Her branduntil September 11. The exhibition presents a collection of new and recent video installations, including previously unseen self-portraits and 3D videos.
Since the 1960s, the work of Bruce Nauman has questioned the very nature of what constitutes art and the fact of being an artist. He is known for making his body — his hands in particular — the object of his art and a tool for analyzing the relationship between language and meaning. Exploring the intersections between personal and historical moments of profound loss, the exhibition centers on Nauman’s video installation, “His Mark” (2021), comprised of eight large-scale 3D projections of Nauman’s hands forming an X on a table. Accompanying “His Mark”, two related works: single-channel video projection, “Practice” (2022) and the “Spider” single-channel 3D video projection (2021).
A new piece, “Self Portrait at 80” (2022), is shown alongside this series. Nauman often returns to earlier works or materials, recontextualizing or reconfiguring them – and in doing so, arrives at new meanings. Presented publicly for the first time, the 2022 video reuses “Walking a Line” (2018) and reverses all the parameters: the color is removed, the movement is reversed but not the soundtrack, and the projected 3D image is returned to -front and front-back. The result is a complete inversion of spatial relationships between Nauman and the world around him.
“The works in this exhibition have nuanced autobiographical and historical origins,” says Brandee Caoba, curator of SITE Santa Fe.her brand explores the mournful implications of loss and its complicated repercussions through repetition and gesture.
her brand is curated by Brandee Caoba and curated by Max Holmes with Bruce Nauman Studio. It is visible until September 11 at SITE Santa Fe in New Mexico.
A full schedule of public programs will take place throughout the exhibition.
To learn more, visit www.santafe.org.
