Bruce Nauman

Human/Need/Desire

1983

Neon tubing and wire with glass tubing suspension frames

Not on view

Words relating to human want light up in a pulsing cycle, continually evoking and replacing meaning. By offering words and taking them away, this work disrupts viewers' habits of perception. Nauman believes that language is "a very powerful tool"; he was inspired to use neon tubing because of the convincing messages and hypnotic aura of neon advertisements. Here, with irony, the artist uses this flashing commercial medium—with all its wires exposed—to address fundamental elements of human experience.

Gallery label from

2007.

Medium Neon tubing and wire with glass tubing suspension frames
Dimensions 7' 10 3/8" x 70 1/2" x 25 3/4" (239.8 x 179 x 65.4 cm)
Credit Gift of Emily and Jerry Spiegel
Object number 228.1991.a-g
Department Painting & Sculpture

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Bruce Nauman

Bruce Nauman

American, born 1941 93 works online

For more than 50 years, he has worked in every conceivable artistic medium, dissolving established genres and inventing new ones in the process.

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