Bruce Nauman (b. 1941)

Maquette for Underground Tunnels

Details

Bruce Nauman (b. 1941)
Maquette for Underground Tunnels
bronze with brown patina
Vertical element: 31 x 13 x 14 in. (78.7 x 34.3 x 35.6 cm.)
Horizontal element: 14 x 14 x 30 in. (35.6 x 35.6 x 76.2 cm.)
Executed in 1978. This work is number one from an edition of three.

Provenance

Leo Castelli Gallery, New York.
Hanson Fuller Goldeen, San Francisco.
Acquired from the above by the present owners, 17 August 1982.

Literature

Aspen Center for the Visual Arts, Aspen, 1982, no. 101 (another cast illustrated).
ed. J. Simon, Bruce Nauman, Minneapolis, 1994, no. 262 (another cast illustrated, p. 272).

Exhibited

Dallas, Carol Taylor Art, Bruce Nauman, 1980 (another cast exhibited).
La Jolla, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, Selections from the Collection of Marne and James DeSilva, March-June 1998.

Lot Essay

Both parts of this two-part bronze sculpture were made from a small, wood and masking tape maquette that was destroyed during casting. The vertical and horizontal elements were each cast from the same mold and are identical except for an attached base that allows the vertical piece to stand on end. A larger version of this pair of open, linear forms was made in steel and serves as a model for a monumental underground tunnel. A cast of this work has been exhibited in group shows at the Fuller Goldeen Gallery, San Francisco in 1982 and the Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles in 1984.