Bruce Nauman: Pinchneck

Born in 1941 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Bruce Nauman studied mathematics and physics at the University of Wisconsin. In the late 1960’s Nauman earned a reputation as a conceptual pioneer in the field of sculpture. He produced his first videos in 1968.

Since the early 1970’s as one of the most innovative and provocative American contemporary artists, Nauman finds inspiration in the activities, speech, and materials of everyday life, including his own body.

“If I was an artist and I was in the studio, then whatever I was doing in the studio must be art. At this point art became more of an activity and less of a product (Nauman via www.pbs.org),”

"Nauman’s video based performance titled Pinch Neck from 1968 features close-cropped images of Bruce Nauman’s face framed by the bridge of his nose to his Adam’s apple by the width of his face. Within this frame Nauman, using his fingers, pinches his lips, pulls his lower lip; pinches his cheeks, pulls at his neck, accentuating the elastic element of his facial skin, much in the same way Hannah Wilke does in her video performance Gestures. He explores the skin on his face as an art object rather than a body part. He kneads his skin and pushes and pulls it to create different “gestures.” This video has an endurance element to it as well. Nauman is enduring the manipulation of his face, by himself (www.mellart.com)."

Nauman uses his body to explore the limits of everyday situations; Nauman explored video as a “theatrical stage and surveillance device” within an installation context.