M. Ampere (Rape Mme)

Nauman’s text-image lithographs evoke the moulds of his fibreglass neon works or an engraved stone relief. The words often appear mirrored, inverted, anagrammed, and palindromic, creating a sense of instability of meaning and leaving the viewer and the reader to hesitate in their interpretation. In this case, the author presents a mirrored text: at the top, M. AMPERE (a reference to the French physicist), while at the bottom the anagram, RAPE MME, which makes the reading stammering and uncertain and reveals a new, negative and brutal meaning.