Bruce Nauman has throughout his career explored unconventional forms of art and new ways of thinking about what art could be. His work often involves language, human interaction, and the cultural and social implications of visual symbols. Adopting the role of artist-mediator, he uses subversive, ironic, and wryly comic elements to establish meaning. Raw-War is one of Nauman's early "word-play" prints, in which he chooses single words, phrases, or idioms to provoke the viewer to seek the underlying and often-nuanced truths about the human condition. This lithograph was produced during the Vietnam War and serves as a statement on the high human cost of warfare.