Hailed by critics as one of the most important artists of his generation, Bruce Nauman has had a protean career, flowing from one medium to the next and one concept to the next with each work. Concept, indeed, is the core of his work. In order to convey new messages, Nauman challenges traditional not
Evincing probably the most machismo of the macho male Minimalist sculptors, Richard Serra defines the very meaning of power and control -- tackling tonnages of sheets of steel into gentle submission. One does not merely contemplate his 1997-98 "Torqued Ellipses," one is consumed by it, traversing and
The French-born artist Annette Messager works with a tremendously wide range of materials: manipulated photographs, embroidery, netting, random household objects, and stuffed animals (both the toy kind and the taxidermist kind). In many of her installations, the objects are suspended by yarn from the
If you walk into a room and find everything you held dear in childhood degraded, chances are it's a Paul McCarthy installation. McCarthy is known for shocking, sexually charged pieces that feature benign cartoon and pop-culture characters -- Olive Oyl and Santa Claus, among others -- in a bacchanalia