Nauman as creator, inventing himself

BERKELEY — Except for one small group of previously unknown drawings, most of the works in the smashing exhibition "A Rose Has No Teeth: Bruce Nauman in the 1960s" are familiar. How could they not be? Nauman is among the critical American artists of the last four decades, one whose work has fundamentally shaped our idea of what art is today.

Still, the handsome show at the Berkeley Art Museum through April 15 is more than just a compendium of early hits, made from 1964 to 1969. Focused like a laser beam on the two years Nauman spent in the new graduate art program at UC Davis and the nearly three he worked on his own, teaching part time at the San Francisco Art Institute, it considers how a major artist is formed. And those hitherto unexhibited drawings add another brick to that firm foundation.

One surprise is how densely packed and provocative Nauman's artistic inquiry was, even in his early 20s. (He was 22 when he enrolled at Davis.) Virtually everything we now think of as Naumanesque, which accounts for a lot of Postminimal art, was in at least nascent form before he left Northern California for Pasadena. And this youthful work shows him asking a not-so-simple question, and following where the answers lead.

The implied question is: At this particular time and in this specific place, what does it mean to be an artist?

The show includes examples of his well-known fiberglass sculptures, which look almost like molds from which eccentric objects might be cast. Most prior indoor sculpture stood isolated in the room. Many of these relate physically to the gallery space -- sticking out from a wall, leaning against it or appearing to have been tossed into the corner, like discarded rubbish.

Serious subterfuge

Other sculptures have been cast from the artist's body. "From Hand to Mouth" is a famous wax wall-work that begins just below the artist's nose and continues down his shoulder and arm to reach his fingers. The cliche in the title is physically embodied, and the fragmentary result, suggestive of a flayed animal skin, seems bereft.

Nearby, "Wax Impression of the Knees of Five Famous Artists" is a 7-foot plinth of yellowed resin, deftly imitating beeswax. The knee indentations invoke genuflection, which pretty much describes the reverence with which painting, not sculpture, was lavished at the time.