Bruce Nauman @ Tramway

There is an exploratory element to Nauman's works which is exploited in this exhibition, with a particular interest in process becoming apparent. His work Raw Material Washing Hands exemplifies this, as the video shows the process of washing one's hands repeatedly, bringing to mind those with an obsession with germs. His neon piece La Brea/Art Tips/Rat Spit/Tar Pits conveys an interest with language and its construction that Nauman has harboured from the beginning of his career. The phrases progress in a circle, indicating a process of thought which these anagrams for the La Brea Tar Pits come from. In another video piece, Setting a Good Corner (Allegory and Metaphor) Nauman is depicted setting corner fence posts on his New Mexico Ranch. This hour-long video shows this everyday task in its entirety, charting the course of the workman's progress from beginning to completion. Enforced Perspective also gives a sense of progression and workmanship. The cast bronze blocks are set in groups on the floor of the gallery space in deliberate and mathematical groupings, intended to create a confused perspective, which causes the viewer to believe some of the blocks are twisted and contorted.

The work which stood out for me, however, was Untitled Hand Circle which depicts a circle of casts of Nauman's hands suspended from the ceiling. In conjunction with Raw Materials Washing Hands, it seems to be metaphor for repetition of processes involving the body, another popular theme in much of Nauman's work. While the pieces were interesting and good overall samples of Nauman's work, the exhibition read as a mini retrospective with loosely similar themes and didn't excite as I'd hoped it would. [Suzanne Neilson]