Like most of Nauman's work, Animal Pyramid is open to many different interpretations and combines humor and pathos with a multitude of references. Animal Pyramid may appear humorous, but it is also quite serious. The animals in the sculpture are all of endangered species. The forms are cast from taxidermy models, a comment on hunting and display of animals.
Source: NEWS May June 1990
Bruce Nauman was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1941. He spent most of his youth in Milwaukee, and attended the University of Wisconsin, receiving a B.A. in 1964.
Although his college studies concentrated on mathematics, he next attended the University of Californis, Davis, completing a M.F.A. in 1966. Nauman then lived in San Francisco for several years before settling in Pecos, New Mexico.
Exhibition History"Styles of the Times: The 1990's"
Leo Castelli Gallery, New York City
Metropolis International Art Exhibition, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin
"Drawing Now: New Spaces," The Museum of Modern Art, New York
"Commitment, Community and Controversy: The Des Moines Art Center Collections," Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa, January 24, 1998 - May 10, 1998
"BRUCE NAUMAN," (Retrospective), Kunsthaus Zurich, Switzerland.
Published ReferencesMETROPOLIS, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Rizzoli, (New York: 1991), ed. Christos M. Joachimides and Norman Rosenthal
BRUCE NAUMAN (Exhibition catalogue and catalogue raisonne), essays by Neal Benezra, Kathy Halbreich, Paul Schimmel, and Robert Storr, General editor, Joan Simon with Janet Jenkins and Toby Kamps, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, distributed by Art Publishers, 1st edition, 1994, color repro. pg. 318, cat. no. 419.
Sheet: 79 1/2 × 62 in. (201.9 × 157.5 cm)
