Jenny Holzer first came to the attention of the general public in the late 1970s. Inspired by Manhattan’s graffiti scene, she began putting up anonymous street posters around the city. These so-called Inflammatory Essays featured excerpts from texts by left-wing intellectuals like Karl Marx and Susan Sontag, and soon began getting a response. ‘People would cross out ones they didn’t like and would star others,’ she explained. ‘I liked that people would engage with them.' This direct dialogue with her audience would become the foundation of her art.
Holzer was born in Gallipolis in Ohio. She gained her Masters in Fine
Art at Rhode Island School of Design before taking a study programme at
the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1977. Her tutor gave her a
colossal reading list which she reduced to a series of one-liners, and
never looked back. This punk-like attitude fitted with the prevailing
sentiments of the era. It was a time of cut-up philosophy defined by
subversive slogans and texts. Holzer’s politically-charged statements
embodied the rebellious spirit of the age. Her work prompted comparison
with artists such
Barbara Kruger
and
Jean-Michel Basquiat
.
In 1982, Messages to the Public featured a series of aphorisms
on a Spectacolor electronic sign in Times Square. Part of her Truisms series, it included now-iconic slogans such as
‘PROTECT ME FROM WHAT I WANT’ and ‘ABUSE OF POWER COMES AS NO
SURPRISE’. Holzer has been synonymous with the blinking LED light ever
since. Her neon installations and projections can be hypnotic, with
text scrolling across walls and floors in glowing lines of red and
gold. Yet the subject matter is never soothing. She has addressed
issues including rape, famine, climate change, murder, war and AIDS,
and has used declassified government documents in her art.
As well as installation, Holzer's practice encompasses paintings,
prints and sculpture: her marble benches
Arno Pair
(2010) sold for $1,560,000 at Christie’s New York in 2022, setting a
new world record. Elsewhere she has also explored digital technology,
notably through her 2020 augmented reality app YOU BE MY ALLY.
In 2022, she created an NFT in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s
decision to overturn abortion rights. Her work has also intersected
with popular culture over the years, appearing on everything from
T-shirts to Helmut Lang advertising campaigns and temporary tattoos.
JENNY HOLZER (B. 1950)
Arno Pair
JENNY HOLZER (B. 1950)
Selection from Truisms: A sincere effort is all you can ask...
JENNY HOLZER (B. 1950)
Selections from Truisms: Abuse of Power…
Jenny Holzer (b. 1950)
Selections from Truisms: A sense of timing...
Jenny Holzer (b. 1950)
Selections from Truisms: A single event...
JENNY HOLZER (B. 1950)
Survival: Protect me...
Jenny Holzer (b. 1950)
Selections from Truisms (A Lot of Professionals...)
JENNY HOLZER (b. 1950)
Selection from Survival: The Beginning of War Will Be Secret
Jenny Holzer (b. 1950)
Selection from "The Living Series" (Little Queenie)
JENNY HOLZER (B. 1950)
The Living Series: You can watch people align themselves...
Jenny Holzer (B. 1950)
Laments: I Am A Man
Jenny Holzer (b. 1950)
Put Food Out in the Same Place Everyday and Talk to the People Who Come to Eat and Organize Them (Survival Series)
JENNY HOLZER (B. 1950)
Living Series: By Your Response to Danger…
JENNY HOLZER (B. 1950)
Selection from Survival: When there is no safe place...
Jenny Holzer (B. 1950)
Stripes
JENNY HOLZER (B. 1950)
TOP SECRET Sleep deprivation, US government document
Jenny Holzer (b. 1950)
Selection from Survival: You are caught...
JENNY HOLZER (NEE EN 1950)
Selection from the living series: What a shock...
Jenny Holzer (b. 1950)
Selection from Survival: It Is in Your Self-Interest…
JENNY HOLZER (B. 1950)
The Survival Series: What Urge Will Save Us Now That Sex Won't?
Jenny Holzer (b. 1950)
Selection from Survival: Men don't protect…
Jenny Holzer (b. 1950)
When there is no safe place to sleep...
JENNY HOLZER (B. 1950)
Living Series: It's an odd feeling when...
Jenny Holzer (b. 1950)
Survival
Jenny Holzer (b. 1950)
Blue Corner
Jenny Holzer (b. 1950)
Untitled
JENNY HOLZER (B. 1950)
Truisms Footstool: An elite is inevitable...
JENNY HOLZER (B. 1950)
Erlauf, Blue
Jenny Holzer (B. 1950)
Selections from Under a Rock
Jenny Holzer (b. 1950)
Selections from the Survival Series
Jenny Holzer (b. 1950)
Selections from the Survival Series
JENNY HOLZER (b. 1950)
Truisms Footstool
JENNY HOLZER (B. 1950)
Living: You have to make thousands of precise...
Jenny Holzer (b. 1950)
Truism Footstool (Starvation is nature's way...)
JENNY HOLZER (B. 1950)
Survival: Protect me from what I want...
JENNY HOLZER (B. 1950)
PRESENT
Jenny Holzer (b. 1950)
Truisms Footstool: An Elite Is Inevitable...
Jenny Holzer (b. 1950)
Selection from the Survival Series (When there's no safe place to sleep...)
Jenny Holzer (b. 1950)
Selections from "The Living Series", "Truisms" and "The Survival Series"
Jenny Holzer (b. 1950)
Olympian Sign: Selections from Truisms , The Living Series and The Survival Series
Jenny Holzer (b. 1950)
The Living Series: Hands on Socialization Promotes...
Jenny Holzer (B. 1950)
With Sophisticated Record...
Jenny Holzer (b. 1950)
The Living Series: Just One Rotten Spot
JENNY HOLZER (B. 1950)
The Survival Series: Remember To React
Jenny Holzer (b. 1950)
The Living Series: Even with your eyes closed
Jenny Holzer (b. 1950)
If You Aren't Political Your Personal Life Should be Exemplary
JENNY HOLZER (B. 1950)
Selection, from The Survival Series