All Photos By Gail
Bruce Nauman’s neon sculpture, Human Nature / Life Death (1983) is a circle of words corresponding to the defining contradictions of human existence — life and death, love and hate, pleasure and pain — are trisected by the words “Animal,” “Human” and “Nature.”
In the aggregate, the words form a colorful, illuminated peace symbol. Human Nature / Life Death is anything but serene or amicable, however, and not only because of its content. As the words flash and darken erratically, Nauman’s neon devolves into a jumble of disjointed signs that break the continuity of the composition and jerk the eye across the wall.
Photographed in The Met Breuer in Manhattan.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: 1983, Art, Artist, Human Nature / Life Death, Modern Art Monday, Neon, Neon Sign, Neon Tubing, Peace Sign, The Met Breuer, Word Art
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