Clown Torture

If there is one man that takes art and runs with it and creates his own identity while doing that it is Bruce Nauman. Bruce Nauman is a contemporary American artist that creates art by using photographs, video and human performance. His way of creating art was by using himself and his unique brain to think of any invention of art that would set him ahead of others. Since the 1970s Bruce has been known as one of the most innovative artists in the world. Something that is different from Bruce and the rest of artists during his time was that he took activities, speeches and topics of everyday life to create his masterpieces. During his prime Bruce worried less on the development of his work but instead would try to find a way to transform his idea into a work of art. The biggest development and helper to Naumans success is that of video which has helped to blossom him into a world known artist. Many of his works in the 1960s were created with the involvement of film and video. But after 1973 he no longer used video he then started working on other areas of the art world. Not until 1985 did Nauman get back into video when he created his “Clown Torture" known as his best achievement to date.

"Clown Torture"

The work I have decided to talk about is one of the most bizarre scenes Nauman created called “Clown Torture".  This scene that Nauman created explores the identities of confusion, boredom and frustration. Nauman created these identities by involving monitors, projection screens and enhanced audio in the room. The scene was installed in a darkened space and consisted of two pairs of stacked monitors. Nauman in his odd ways decided to turn one of the monitors upside down and the other on its side to help confuse the viewer and leave them in state of panic. Also in the room were two large video projection screens every one of the displays had sound coming out of them which helped Nauman to portray his scene. The monitors on the wall and in the cases play four different narrative sequences each one showing a different adventure of a clown.  Each one of the scenes is said to be played out brilliantly not only by the plot of the scene but also the actor. The Clown Torture was known for playing tricks on the people that came to see it and left them wondering if they had just seen what they thought they did. This was a building block for Nauman starting up a new direction for him involving art with monitors, projections and acting elements.

Conner