We round up the reviews for the Tate Modern’s newly opened exhibition focusing on the work of the American artist.
The Observer: **** “No one visiting this show could fail to notice Nauman’s prodigious influence over contemporary art.”
The Times: “Baffling and bleak, Bruce Nauman’s work is hugely influential — and the perfect art for the Covid world”
The Guardian: ****** “However well I think I know Nauman’s art, and most of the works here, this pared-down survey of over 50 years of work continues to thrill and to disturb.”
The Upcoming: *** “There’s much of interest in Nauman’s long and ground-breaking career, and there are moments of real intrigue in this exhibition. However, it lacks a central narrative to energise it and the overwhelming noise levels threaten to set visitors’ teeth on edge.”
The Telegraph: **** “Bruce Nauman makes a habit of turning images back-to-front. So, let’s start by considering what the 78-year-old American artist is not. He is not, to be frank, a purveyor of visual pleasure. He doesn’t do beauty in the manner of, say, Matisse, who once wrote that art should be like a good armchair, providing relaxation from fatigue. Coming across one of Nauman’s installations is more like encountering a live wire. Danger: high voltage. Don’t visit his new retrospective at Tate Modern, then, if you want a fix of joie de vivre.”
Evening Standard: *** “A lot of Nauman’s work is mesmerising and thought-provoking. I just wish some of it would shut up for a bit.”
The Arts Desk: **** “I love Nauman’s work; his sardonic fatalism may be chilling, but his wicked humour still lifts the spirits. Take courage, it seems to say; all is not lost until the very last. We may be doomed, but we’’ll go down laughing. The timing of the show gives the work a darker edge, though.”
Londonmumsmagazine.com: “Major works like Double Steel Cage Piece 1974, Anthro/Socio (Rinde Spinning) and Clown Torture 1987 highlights Nauman’s distinctive preoccupations and how he incessantly revisits them – yet never repeats himself.”
Bruce Nauman is on display at the Tate Modern until the 21st February 2021.