ELUSIVE SIGNS

Left: Bruce Nauman's None Sing Neon Sign, 1970, as sketched by Troy's Work Table
Right: Bruce Nauman's None Sing Neon Sign, 1970, as sketched by the child

The child and I visit Bruce Nauman's Elusive Signs at the Henry Art Gallery. Like Carsten Höller's Neon Circle, these are manipulations of light and space, mostly constructed of neon tubing. These are portals to other places. Liminal zones. Simulations of reality, but not reality. They are not quite fantasy, either, but very real.

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Helman Gallery Parallelogram is flooded with the sickly light of green fluorescent bulbs. This is the color of the fourth horse of the Apocalypse. This is death. The skewed structure of the walls adds to the queasiness. The parallelogram is difficult to enter, with its doors squeezed into "hallways" that almost disappear before you can enter. Claustrophobia is key.

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The child has a better handle on the sketching of these signs than Troy's Work Table. The child's colors dance and flow, like the neon in the tubes itself. These sketches are electric, alive. They tell a story. They speak an experience.

Troy's Work Table's sketches are rudimentary, childish, perfunctory. Once again, this is death.