ABSTRACT
The art production of Bruce Nauman, who, with Robert Morris, is one of the most restless and inventive contemporary artists, would seem to constitute an inventory of objects and effects of post-Minimal art. An explorer of the qualities and characteristics of all media, of the effects of words and word games, and of the effects of space on the viewer, Nauman might be said sometimes to subtract information from rather than to add information to a particular piece. Works, or series of works, such as these are in the mainstream of contemporary American art, but at the same time speak to the predicament of those marginalized by the larger culture. To an audience aware of the use of impersonal modern materials and the seeming random quality of much contemporary art, Puryear's spare and neat forms reveal a rare elegance almost classic in their sense of reserve.
