A Rose Has No Teeth

Reading Renny Pritikin's review of A Rose Has No Teeth, Bruce Nauman 1964-69, at the Berkeley Art Museum, is incredibly inspiring - perhaps even more for importance he attributes to the exhibition as marking a turning point for the Bay Area than for the description of Bruce Nauman's work there.

"It is the culmination, professionally, of at least a decade’s worth of projects by Lewallen that resuscitated the work of conceptual artists of the Bay Area who had been in danger of being overlooked by art history".

"I felt that it was a turning point in the Bay Area’s understanding of its place in contemporary art. This region has nurtured so many artists whose work is of the utmost value and importance, yet for the usual litany of reasons, it is rarely acknowledged as an important art center in this country, let alone internationally. So what is landmark about this exhibition is an assertive celebration of what we have accomplished and contributed organized by one of our most important curators, and that will go on to demonstrate that contribution in stops in both Europe and America. Furthermore, there is a bit of a culmination of something as well, as Nauman and his teachers are now in their 60s and 70s, (I saw both Jim Melchert and William T. Wiley at the opening for example) and are our old masters, beloved and esteemed. "