Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Andrew Head / Andrew Head Reversed, Nose to Nose
Bruce Nauman American
Not on view
Here, two disembodied heads form a tableau evocative of mutilation. A cast of Nauman’s own tongue in one of the heads makes them even more unsettling. The title refers to Andrew Peters, a model for Nauman’s series of hollow wax heads, begun in 1989. Wax is traditionally used only in the intermediate stages of sculpting and casting, but here Nauman fashions from it a finished work of art. At the same time, he has also left wrinkles and casting seams, details that would generally be removed in more polished objects.