A personal and authoritative account of Bruce Nauman (b.1941), the world-famous sculptor, photographer, and video artist, from Peter Plagens, renowned writer, critic and artist who has known Nauman for over forty years. The first book to explore Nauman’s entire career, including pivotal artworks such as Self-Portrait as a Fountain and Art Make-up, as well as many of his lesser-known pieces. Nauman's work over the last four decades has consistently broken new ground and inspired generations of artists, including Rachel Whiteread, Kiki Smith, Tony Oursler and Tracey Emin, Bruce Nauman (b. 1941) is one of the most innovative, provocative and influential artists working today. His pioneering explorations of sculpture, performance, sound, video and installations – always questioning the role of the artist – have broken new ground and inspired innumerable artists’ careers. Confronted with what to do in his studio soon after graduating, Nauman had the simple but profound realization that ‘If I was an artist and I was in the studio, then whatever I was doing in the studio must be art. At this point art became more of an activity and less of a product.’ Exploring Nauman’s relationship to the place where he creates his strikingly original works, Bruce Nauman: The True Artist retraces back to the artist’s youth in Fort Wayne, Indiana, his graduate work at the University of California, Davis, through to the present day. Nauman’s continual search for new means and sources of expression have led him to experiment with a very wide variety of medium (photography, performance, sculpture, installations, video, neon sign, and sound) as well as to explore the relationship between words and images. Nauman’s apotheosis as one of the world’s most highly lauded artists came as he was ranked No. 1 in the world by Artfacts.net in 2006, and he was the sole US representative in the American Pavilion at the 2009 Venice Biennale.