For more than 40 years, Jenny Holzer has presented her astringent ideas, arguments and sorrows in public places and international exhibitions. Her medium, whether formulated as a T-shirt, a plaque, or an LED sign is writing and the public dimension is integral to the delivery of the work. Starting in the 1970s with the New York City posters and continuing through her more recently projections on landscape in architecture, her practice has rivaled, ignorance and violence with humor, kindness and courage.

Jenny Holzer
PEOPLE LOOK LIKE THEY ARE DANCING BEFORE THEY LOVE, 1983-85
from The Survival Series
Danby Imperial white marble footstool
Edition of 10
17 x 23 x 15 3/4 inches

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Jenny Holzer
Laments (I go to schools…), 1988-89
Pencil on tracing paper
84 x 32 inches framed

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Jenny Holzer
Without Warning, 1980-82
from The Living Series
Enamel on metal in red and white
Edition of 5
21 x 23 inches
27 1/2 x 29 3/8 inches framed

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This work, comprised of four photographs, presents images from her projection “Truth Before Power,” organized by the Kunsthaus Bregenz in Austria in 2004.

Some of Holzer’s most innovative and impressive public works used xenon lamps to create public messages intended to be ‘seen and absorbed rather than read’. Holzer projected texts including US government documents, a poem by Henri Cole, and Holzer’s own statements regarding architectural landmarks and landscape panoramas. 

Jenny Holzer
My Skin, 2004
from the suite of 4 prints Truth Before Power
Digital pigment print on photo rag paper
edition of 40
21 3/4 x 17 3/4 inches paper

Jenny Holzer
Department of State, 2004
from the suite of 4 prints Truth Before Power
Digital pigment print on photo rag paper
edition of 40
21 3/4 x 17 3/4 inches paper

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Jenny Holzer
Department of State, 2004
from the suite of 4 prints Truth Before Power
Digital pigment print on photo rag paper
edition of 40
21 3/4 x 17 3/4 inches paper

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Jenny Holzer
Nature Seems Complacent, 2004
from the suite of 4 prints Truth Before Power
Digital pigment print on photo rag paper
edition of 40
21 3/4 x 17 3/4 inches paper

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Jenny Holzer
The Beginning of the War Will Be Secret , 2004
from the suite of 4 prints Truth Before Power
Digital pigment print on photo rag paper
edition of 40
21 3/4 x 17 3/4 inches paper

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I didn’t want people to have to stand to read my texts on electronic signs. I wanted people to be comfortable, and to take time to look. So I thought to provide benches, and it came to me that I could put writing on the seating, and the benches should be stone.

Jenny Holzer

Jenny Holzer
Mother & Child, 1990
Mini electronic LED with diodes in colors
edition of 100
4 x 4 3/4 x 1 1/2 inches

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THE MOST PROFOUND THINGS ARE INEXPRESSIBLE…

Jenny Holzer