Untitled
1981
pastel
From the collection of Museum of Modern Art
Untitled is a 1981 pastel by Bruce Nauman, depicting mask, held at Museum of Modern Art.
You see a big sheet of paper covered in smudged pink, gray, and black lines—like someone rubbed their hands across wet pastel. The marks look accidental, but they’re not. Nauman made this by pressing his own face into the paper while it was still damp. The smudges are literally his features, blurred into abstraction. It’s weirdly personal and totally impersonal at the same time. If you like this, try more works in pastel—the way the chalk sticks and smears can turn a simple idea into something raw.
