Bruce Nauman made his first neon wall relief in 1966, and from that early moment launched a career-long examination of the playful as well as deceptive potential of language. Indeed, he is known for potent, materially unorthodox work that engages the complexity and absurdity of verbal expression. Nauman’s neon pieces can appear at first bright and festive. But the cheerful, shop-sign colors and commonplace yet momentous words—which in this case form a literal “peace sign”— communicate viscerally, sometimes darkly. The flashing light is both lulling and disturbing, offering up possible meanings or associations that then blink away again. The artist created Human Nature/Life Death for a 1985 sculpture exhibition in Chicago; it was originally installed at the subway entrance on the northeast corner of State and Madison streets.
Human Nature / Life Death / Knows Doesn’t Know
