Bruce Nauman: The True Artist

(Hardback)

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Description

The most comprehensive overview of the art of Bruce Nauman

Reviews

"Bruce Nauman: The True Artist offers the fullest survey yet of this protean artists work. [Peter Plagenss] firstperson journalistic tack is a welcome approach to an artist who often attracts jargonfond academics."The New York Times Book Review

"Bruce Nauman is known for almost always saying no to retrospectives, interviews, or anything else that might "totalize", as hes said to put it, his work and career. So this months publication of Phaidons monograph on the artist, Bruce Nauman: The True Artist, is a redletter occasion, if only because it represents one of the rare moments when Nauman said yes. Written by Peter Plagens, an abstract painter who was the art critic for Newsweek from 1989 to 2003, the book has been in the works since 2008 or even longer, if you count the fact that Phaidons copublisher, Amanda Renshaw, had been trying to get Nauman to agree to a project since she joined the company more than 20 years ago... While Nauman looms as a cross between the Marlboro Man and an artworld Greta Garbo, Plagens is an unrepentant chatterbox who tends toward mighty digressions. But thats also what makes the book such a delight. Full of riffs on subjects ranging from the use of neon in art to the history of the Venice Biennale, its as much a social history of the modernday art world as it is a guide to Naumans life and career."Carol Kino, The Wall Street Journal

"An astute observer of the contemporary art scene from his days as Naumans neighbor in 1970s Los Angeles, Plagens gives us a vivid vignette of the artist... This book will remain the definitive monograph for years to come."ARTnews

"In this meticulous authorized monograph, critic Plagens, a longtime friend of Nauman, weaves historical context, critical perspective, and his own reflections to study the career of one of the most, if not the most, influential artists of the last halfcentury."Publishers Weekly

"Plagenss new book on Nauman is the closest I, and most of the world, may ever get to the artist."Justin Jones, The Daily Beast

"[Plagens] seeks to view the subject whole. His approach is not one of scholarly distance but of personal engagement and strong opinion."Art in America

Author Bio

Peter Plagens is best known to the general public for his work as art critic and senior writer at Newsweek. He is also a frequent contributor to periodicals including Aperture, Art in American, Artforum and The New York Times. Plagens has also written a classic history of modern art on the West Coast (Sunshine Muse) and an anthology of his art criticism (Moonlight Blues). In addition, he has written many catalogue essays notably for the Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume and the Irish Cultural Center in Paris, and The Modern Art Museum in Fort Worth. He is also a painter whose work has appeared in many exhibitions, including a retrospective at the University of Southern California in 2004.