The true artist exhibits at the PMA

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The true artist exhibits at the PMA

POSTED: Wednesday, April 29, 2009, 9:59 PM

Filed Under: Arts Visual Art

Philadelphia Museum of Art

Bruce Nauman is an artist who many people don't get. Or, to put it more honestly, someone who infuriates people with his strange and sometimes maddening sculpture and sound works. From people both in and outside of the art community, he garners a lot of "Is that really art?" comments.

Take a gander at the right to judge for yourself. I consider his neon pieces to be eerie and transfixing, and often very insightful ' the line "The true artist helps the world by revealing mystic truths" is arguably a mystic truth itself.

Here's what Alix Browne of the New York Times Magazine had to say about him:

If you're feeling generous, the work of Bruce Nauman can be described as 'challenging' or 'controversial.' 'Hostile,' if you're feeling less so. Or, as the artist himself once put it in the pages of this magazine, it's 'like getting hit in the face with a baseball bat.' Nauman, who over the past several decades has plied a variety of media from sculpture to sound and who, at 67, is widely regarded as the most influential artist of his generation, will represent the United States at this year's Venice Biennial, which opens to the public June 7.

Whether or not he's as influential as some claim, I'd imagine Nauman is a doozy to curate. The Philadelphia Museum of Art is taking it on, however, in Venice. And in fact, already has to a smaller degree ' The True Artist Helps the World by Revealing Mystic Truths is on the first floor of the museum. If you want to see Nauman's work before June 7 (and don't have a ticket to Italy anytime soon), I'd suggest you visit the PMA before then.

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