Raw-War

This is one of a series of lithographs made by Nauman involving word-play. The artist has drawn the palindrome, 'Raw-War' repeatedly in a semi-transparent perspective grid. There are four receding parallel rows of the same three letters, and in the first, the letter R is reversed, so that the first row may be read as RAW or WAR. In the second row 'War' may only be read backwards and similar reversals take place in the other two rows. This is one of Nauman's first lithographs, and relates to an earlier neon sign work, which flashes orange and red. Nauman uses the association of color, sound and image to enrich and to broaden meaning. He has acknowledged that there is a political dimension to this work.

- The Tate Gallery (Online)