Perfect Door/Perfect Odor/Perfect Rodo
1972
Clear glass neon tubing, wires, suspension frames (3 parts)
54.4 x 73.3 x 5.7 cm (21 7/16 x 28 7/8 x 2 1/4 in.)
Three neon ensembles of different shades of white (cold, warm and medium) represent various combinations of letters. If “Perfect” remains stable, “Door” becomes first “Odor” and then “Rodo”. This last ‘word’, which doesn't mean anything, is confusing and exemplary of Bruce Nauman's use of puns and irony.
The artist has been working with neon since 1966. Language (and its limitations) is a recurring theme throughout his œuvre. With Perfect Door/Perfect Odor/Perfect Rodo, Nauman invites us to question visually and linguistically the notion of perfection as the only stable entity in each of the neon “signs”. More broadly, he makes us experience the ambiguous nature of human communication.
Perfect Door/Perfect Odor/Perfect Rodo was shown for the first time in 2006 at the Where Are We Going? exhibition at Palazzo Grassi, in Venice.
The artist has been working with neon since 1966. Language (and its limitations) is a recurring theme throughout his œuvre. With Perfect Door/Perfect Odor/Perfect Rodo, Nauman invites us to question visually and linguistically the notion of perfection as the only stable entity in each of the neon “signs”. More broadly, he makes us experience the ambiguous nature of human communication.
Perfect Door/Perfect Odor/Perfect Rodo was shown for the first time in 2006 at the Where Are We Going? exhibition at Palazzo Grassi, in Venice.
Exhibitions
Bruce NAUMAN © Adagp, Paris.
