Insights

Bruce Nauman, Untitled (Hand Circle), 1996, bronze, silver solder, and copper, ARTIST ROOMS National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. It’s a pity Washington is to far away to visit. The double handshakes read as both obsequious and aggressive, a reading that jibes with Nauman’s appreciation of clowns as “funny or threatening—their position or function is ambiguous, and I like that.” The multiple meanings of Nauman’s clowns and their gestures extend the series’s exploration of homeomorphisms. Each set of disembodied hands seems to have a distinct personality. That same year, Nauman visited Gemini G.E.L. Bruce Nauman [title not known] 1990. Although the gestures the hands form don’t translate directly to sign language, the installation has been of interest to the deaf community. Bruce Nauman Untitled. West Building About this artwork. 4th St and Constitution Ave NW     Bathing Scrap Metal Drypoint #6, David Hockney 1985. Gift of Gemini G.E.L. Nauman has long been fascinated by the myriad possibilities presented by hands—specifically his own hands—and he has explored the subject in many permutations and mediums. lithograph American, born 1941. I’m a collector of stamps and especially stamps with hands (without a body, a person). lithograph Bruce Nauman [title not known] 1990. 1998. 11:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. daily, Sculpture Garden The West Building, Ground Floor galleries are now open. Acquired jointly through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008. Free, timed passes are required and released each Monday at 10:00 a.m. for the following week. “I’ve always had overlapping ways of going about my work,” Bruce Nauman once remarked. Nauman's fascination with hands and the various forms they can take on is evident through the installation as each pair performs unique gestures. Fifteen Pairs of Hands is a sculptural installation by artist Bruce Nauman featuring 15 white bronze sculptures of dismembered hands frozen in various positions. We’re also on Pinterest, Tumblr, and Flipboard. Stay up to date about our exhibitions, news, programs, and special offers. He created lithographic plates, but did not complete work on the project. Both subjects conflate hand gestures and sexual activity: intercourse, in the case of “three fingers, one hole,” and phallic erections and detumescence in the case of the clowns’ pumping handshake. In background, from left, “Achilles,” 1952 (oil and acrylic resin on canvas) by Barnett Newman; “Marquis de Portago (first version),” 1960 (aluminum oil paint on canvas) by Frank Stella. Receive our Weekly Newsletter. Each piece is presented atop its own steel base coated in white paint as a set of disembodied hands interacting with one another. The formations are certainly communicative, their meaning up for interpretation. Arts Observer participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn commissions by linking to amazon.com. “Bruce Nauman: Topological Gardens” surveyed four decades of his work in various mediums. 1500 stamps and also a few hundred postcards. “Fifteen Pairs of Hands,” 1996 (white bronze with painted bases). Want to advertise with us? The program helps Arts Observer to offset a small portion of the time and expense required to create and maintain this site's content. On loan from the artist, the installation is on display in the contemporary wing of the National Gallery of Art. Things that don’t look alike morphose one into another.”—Nauman, 1994, Bruce Nauman, Human Sexual Experience, 1985, neon tubing mounted on aluminum monolith, Marc and Livia Straus Family Collection, Courtesy Sperone Westwater, New York. 7th St and Constitution Ave NW Each set of disembodied hands seems to have a distinct personality.     From the Printer's Perspective, Past Gemini Exhibitions at the National Gallery, Untitled, 1994 In this work, Nauman has presented us with the basic tools used to make all sculpture: the hands. Fingers and Holes is about transformation: topological, visual, and linguistic. and began work on images of clowns shaking hands. Banner image: Bruce Nauman, Untitled (detail), 1994, etching, Gift of Gemini G.E.L. Bruce Nauman [title not known] Closed. I never get enough. The “three fingers, one hole” gesture in this series first appeared in Human Sexual Experience, a neon work from 1985. Nauman was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, but his father's work as an engineer for General Electric meant that the family moved often. “Fifteen Pairs of Hands” was featured at the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009, where Bruce Nauman was the focus of the American pavilion. Although the gestures the hands form don’t translate directly to sign language, the installation has been of interest to the deaf community. Visit My Modern Met Media. 76.2 × 101.6 cm (30 × 40 in.) Bruce Nauman Good Boy Bad Boy. So I started thinking about that—about topology. 1986. There is also an unspoken association between Nauman's bronze hands and the practice of communicating with hands. WASHINGTON, DC—Wandering between Bruce Nauman’s “Fifteen Pairs of Hands” is like milling around a small crowd of people. In doing so, Nauman translated his anatomical sketches into the language of algebraic topology, which he had studied in college. 76 x 101.3 cm (29 15/16 x 39 7/8 in.) © 2020 National Gallery of Art   Notices   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy. Nauman's fascination with hands and the various forms they can take on is evident through the … Topology’s “three fingers, one hole” is a symbol of sexual intercourse in what Nauman has called “kids’ sign language, innocent, funny, simple.” The gesture appears in two other prints: in daisy chain formation and pasted over a handshake between two clowns (Nauman’s identification). and the Artist, 2015, Untitled, 1994 When you make a purchase from Amazon, via a link or display promotion here, Arts Observer receives a minute percentage of its price. Michael Heizer He returned to the plates he had begun in 1985 and incorporated them into the Fingers and Holes series.     Making Hoarfrost Editions at Gemini From Stephen Barr, Experiments in Topology (New York, 1964), Fingers and Holes began when Bruce Nauman (American, born 1941) challenged himself to draw his right hand with his left and his left hand with his right. Bruce Nauman Violent Incident. I hope my english is good enough to understand. Bruce Nauman Good Boy Bad Boy. Hands are so fascinating. 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Nauman’s startling equivalences coax slippery meanings—puerile, but logical—from an ostensibly simple and august subject: the artist’s hand.     Hockney Working at Gemini, Robert Rauschenberg In this mathematical field, a coffee cup and doughnut are equivalents: each has an unbroken surface surrounding a single “hole.” Topologists call these homeomorphisms, or, as Nauman explains, “things that don’t look alike that morphose into the other.”, “The series was not about the holes at first and then I saw that that was going on. 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Find out how by becoming a Patron. Each piece is presented atop its own steel base coated in white paint as a set of disembodied hands interacting with one another.

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