Bruce Nauman

LA Air (1970)

Bruce Nauman’s LAAIR is one of three books the artist produced in response to Ed Ruscha. Nearly parodying Ruscha’s books of Los Angeles archetypes like the Sunset Strip, palm trees, and swimming pools, Nauman’s Clear Sky (1967-1968) features five full-page photographs (each photograph repeated twice) of cloudless skies, so that the pages of the book seem like empty, colorfield-style washes. LAAIR repeats the format of Clear Sky but instead presents photographs of polluted skies. Nauman’s final artist’s book in response to Ruscha, Burning Small Fires (1968), consists of photographs of Nauman burning pages of Ruscha’s 1964 book Various Small Fires. 

Bibliographic References:

Coosje van Bruggen. Bruce Nauman. (New York: Rizzoli, 1988): http://obis.oberlin.edu/record=b1471772~S4
 
Bruce Nauman. Exh. Cat. (Minneapolis: Walker Art Center, 1994): http://obis.oberlin.edu/record=b1761674~S4
 

Essay by John Michael Morein '13

 

 

Conceptual
Bruce Nauman