My favorite piece by Bruce Nauman is “Vices and Virtues” (1988). This piece is an excellent synthesis of many of his core ideas, and an appealing piece to look at as well. In this piece, Nauman uses his classic neon signs, but this time broadcasting his message on a larger scale. In the tradition of neon signs for businesses and advertising, he has installed these signs on a building. This is one of the most successful aspects of this piece for me. It, more than any other neon piece, effectively “parodies” the style of neon commercial signs. The size of this piece gives it serious moral weight and authority as well, and is for that reason the strongest of Nauman’s pieces for communicating to people. This is important to Nauman’s role as a “communicator”.
Further, the building is old and industrial, implying more about the industrial and societal implications of this piece. The signs themselves portray conflicting messages: both Vices and Virtues. This dichotomy is prevalent in a culture of industry and advertising, where our moral code teaches virtue, while businesses sell us vice. This piece is further exploring the role of the artist as a communicator and as one who “reveals mystic truths”. It is also cryptic and subversive, like many of Nauman’s other works, but takes this theme to a new height (literally and figuratively). This is also much more permanent than Nauman’s other neon signs, and exists in the real world, not just in a gallery space.