Bruce Nauman

Konrad Fischer Galerie and Okey Dokey Konrad Fischer are honored to present Bruce Nauman’s twenty-first exhibition with the gallery, and the first in New York, marking a historic continuity that began with his seminal first solo exhibition in Düsseldorf, Six Sound Problems for Konrad Fischer, in 1968.

When asked by his friend, the painter, Eric Fischl, ‘How do you hold your pencil?’, Bruce Nauman explained: “I really hadn’t thought about it, and I asked my daughter to make a video over my right shoulder while I was making a silverpoint drawing. (…) That got me thinking: How do I work? How do I draw?”

Presenting a body of work that emerged from this deceptively simple question, Nauman and his assistant Ellen Babcock have made over sixty slow-motion, 3D videos of still-lifes, self-portraits and thumb wrestling which take the artist’s medi- tations on the act of drawing as their guiding force.

In the middle gallery, a new video will be shown every day, allowing the viewer on repeated visits to experience the exhi- bition afresh—an approach that is reminiscent of Nauman’s first exhibition at Konrad Fischer, when different sound loops were played over six consecutive days.

In the furthest room, additional longer videos are set to loop, creating a dynamic where relationships between works continually shift, guided by parameters created by the artist. All works will be shown in slow motion, including the audio, which produce a slowed-down ambient sound in the exhibition space.

Throughout the exhibition “blind drawings” in gold point and silver point are shown for the first time. Made by Nauman with his eyes closed, at times using both hands simultaneously, this series was born of an exercise prized by his late friend, the curator, Kasper König: to draw a pig with your eyes closed without lifting the pencil from the paper. Closing his eyes, he found he could resolve the problem, and the experience sparked the blind drawings seen here. As Nauman observed, when you draw with your eyes closed, there are no mistakes to be made.

Born in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1941, Nauman has been the focus of over two hundred and fifty solo exhibitions since his first exhibition in 1966. An upcoming exhibition will take place at the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas (2026). Most recently his work was shown at Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong (2024); Site Santa Fe, NM (2023); and Palazzo Grassi – Punta della Dogana, Venice (2021-22). Recent retrospectives include: Pirelli Hangar Bicocca, Milan (2022-23) and M Woods, Beijing (2022). An eponymous survey at Tate Modern in London (2020) traveled to the Stedelijk Muse- um, Amsterdam (2021). Bruce Nauman: Disappearing Acts, a comprehensive retrospective, made its debut at Schaulager, Basel (2018) and traveled to MoMA, New York and MoMA P.S.1 (2018/19).

Nauman was awarded the Golden Lion at the 48th Venice Biennale in 1999 and in 2009 he represented the United States at the Venice Biennale; the pavilion was awarded the Golden Lion for Best National Participation. Additional notable awards include the Praemium Imperiale in 2004 and the Frederick Kiesler Prize in 2014.