Jenny Holzer
Jenny Holzer is a visual artist and writer who uses language to explore ways that words can manipulate and influence us. Her short texts, most of which she writes herself, range from inflammatory to introspective essays. While she considers her work political and is deeply engaged with such issues as feminism, poverty, nuclear proliferation, and AIDS, Holzer's texts express a range of viewpoints—or none at all. Always concerned with reaching a wide audience, she has placed her work in such public spaces as an electronic billboard in Times Square, the cable channel MTV, and the fronts of T-shirts and ball caps, but she has also worked in more traditional media, such as drawing, photography, and printmaking.
Education, Truisms
A native of Gallipolis, Ohio, Holzer originally hoped to be a painter. She studied at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, and earned an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. After moving to New York City in 1977, she began using language as her medium and produced her first major series, Truisms— short, often provocative sentences that she printed on handbills and posted anonymously on buildings and walls around Manhattan.Survival Series, Laments, Living
In subsequent series, Holzer explores other methods of presentation. Survival Series (1983–1985), which warned about the dangers of everyday living, were blazoned on enormous electronic signboards in public spaces, while the more personal Laments (1989), which the artist identified as the thoughts of thirteen deceased adults and children, were engraved on a row of stone sarcophagi. Living (1981) was a group of short instructional texts first presented on bronze plaques to give them an institutional, authoritative look. In 1989, Holzer had 28 texts from Living engraved on white granite benches for the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, where they provide seating along one of the park’s pathways.Venice Biennale, Abstract Paintings
In 1990, Holzer became the first woman to represent the United States at the Venice Biennale. Her installation of flashing LED signboards was awarded the Leone d’Oro for best pavilion. Since the mid-1990s, she has created dozens of outdoor light projections on buildings in cities ranging from Singapore to San Diego. Concurrently, the artist has returned to painting with silkscreened canvases based on declassified, redacted government documents concerning the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Holzer's deeply felt and formally inventive work has established her as one of the leading artists of her generation.Artworks
This is a collection of artworks by the artist, including both physical and digital pieces.
![[Truisms Stamp Set]](https://walker-col.imgix.net/wac_29647.tif?fm=jpg&w=1024&h=1024&fit=fit)
YOU SHOULD LIMIT THE NUMBER OF TIMES YOU ACT AGAINST YOUR NATURE, LIKE SLEEPING WITH PEOPLE YOU HATE. IT'S INTERESTING TO TEST YOUR CAPABILITIES FOR A WHILE BUT TOO MUCH WILL CAUSE DAMAGE. from The Living Series
1989
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YOU CAN WATCH PEOPLE ALIGN THEMSELVES WHEN TROUBLE IS IN THE AIR. SOME PREFER TO BE CLOSE TO THOSE AT THE TOP AND OTHERS WANT TO BE CLOSE TO THOSE AT THE BOTTOM. IT'S A QUESTION OF WHO FRIGHTENS THEM MORE AND WHOM THEY WANT TO BE LIKE. from The Living Series
1989
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YOU CAN MAKE YOURSELF ENTER SOMEWHERE FRIGHTENING IF YOU BELIEVE YOU'LL PROFIT FROM IT. THE NATURAL RESPONSE IS TO FLEE BUT PEOPLE DON'T ACT THAT WAY ANYMORE. from The Living Series
1989
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WHEN YOU'VE BEEN SOMEPLACE FOR A WHILE YOU ACQUIRE THE ABILITY TO BE PRACTICALLY INVISIBLE. THIS LETS YOU OPERATE WITH A MINIMUM OF INTERFERENCE. from The Living Series
1989
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WHEN YOU'RE ON THE VERGE OF DETERMINING THAT YOU DON'T LIKE SOMEONE IT'S AWFUL WHEN HE SMILES AND HIS TEETH LOOK ABSOLUTELY EVEN AND FALSE. from The Living Series
1989
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