Bruce Nauman's Malice

Bruce Nauman: Malice Bruce Nauman’s Malice presents a lithograph that is very dark and underdeveloped. The print shows the word “Malice” at the top and is produced again in a mirror image on the bottom of the piece. While it’s easy to assume the meaning of the piece with the knowledge of the definition of the word malice, I believe this work is trying to acquire a deeper sense of interpretation. Nauman implies this with his dark line and almost hatch like application of ink and tusche. The work seems as if it is only a proof and will later be transformed into something more. The application of ink is clearly heavier in specific parts of the work, while the white letters of “Malice” boldly show through in the negative space. Nauman is successfully …show more content…
In his lithograph, the art is presented unorganized and almost sloppy, as if it still needs to be polished and is still just a sketched idea. The ink is applied thicker behind the light letters, creating an obvious tenebrism and drawing almost all attention to the letters in the piece but because it is also applied roughly and in a very un smooth manner, the viewers attention is pulled away from the letters a bit to see the print as a whole. Evidence of the dark ink strokes are clearly visible, causing an initial symbolic assumption of chaos strictly based on the thick application of color throughout the piece. The black ink is applied in different shades throughout the piece, some places darker than others, which adds to the almost unorganized essence of the lithograph, almost as if we are viewing a proof. While this truly is Nauman’s intended presentation of the work, it seems difficult to believe at an initial glimpse. In addition to all the visual contrast between light and dark, Nauman is also clearly trying to communicate with us through the clear use of the word Malice that’s written twice on the …show more content…
Clearly Nauman has been a very influential artist. “Malice” is a piece that really pulls the reader in to discover a deeper meaning. By using the word malice twice and flipping it backwards on the page Nauman creates an asymmetrical balance. The words are almost perfectly symmetrical but its complete symmetry is impossible with its dark ink background. Though both sides of the work are not exactly the same, the piece definitely has a sense of balance. It is as if he wants us search for something even deeper and more exclusive but as a viewer you cant quite put a finger on what it is he’s asking us to look for. It’s a vague piece that is strangely so intriguing. “His Conceptual work stresses meaning over aesthetics; it often uses irony and wordplay to raise issues about existence and alienation, and increasingly it provokes the viewer’s participation and dismay” (Guggenheim Museum 2015). I feel as though there is a visual texture that comes with the viewing of this piece, his application of ink on the print is streaky in a way that If you were to touch it you would feel the different layers that you see. The obvious use of denotation is clear in his