When critics assess the work of Bruce Nauman (1941-鈥冣�冣��), they invariably invoke two points of view simultaneously. Nauman is incredibly innovative and influential, but his work is uncomfortable and irritating to experience as he tediously prods his viewers鈥� psyche. The irritability is probably enhanced by the fact that Nauman accomplishes this discomfort via means that seem deceptively simple. In 1995, writing for the New York Times, Andrew Solomon wrote, 鈥淣auman is the guy who makes you feel incredibly upset and existentially nervous. 鈥� You can recognize a Nauman by the way it makes you want to go home.鈥�

Nauman was born in 1941 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. His father was an engineer for General Electric, and the family, consisting of two brothers and mother Genevieve, moved often. Nauman did well in any school that he attended, but was a shy child primarily interested in math and music. He took lessons for both piano and guitar. From 1960 to 1964 Nauman studied a variety of majors at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, including art, mathematics, and physics. He then moved on to the University of California, Davis, earning a master of fine arts degree in 1966. Compared with the more conservative curriculum Nauman was offered in Wisconsin, California proved to be ideal for his desire to be more experimental and to explore all types of mediums and styles. Through his performance pieces in which he used his own body as subject and through his rough-hewn sculptures, he gained a reputation for progressively pushing the definition of what art could be. His reputation earned him a one-man show at the Nicholas Wilder Gallery in Los Angeles in 1966.