Known for taking art out of the traditional “white cube” of galleries and museums and onto the streets, Jenny Holzer is one of the most potent feminist Neo-Conceptual artists of the 20th century. Her most iconic work critiques the information age and consumerism by reclaiming its primary media — conventional print billboards, storefront posters and LED signs.
“I used language because I wanted to offer content that people — not necessarily art people — could understand,” the Ohio-born Holzer told Interview magazine. She received her MFA in painting from Rhode Island School of Design, where her work was influenced by Abstract Expressionism. It was while in the Independent Study Program at the Whitney Museum of American Art that Holzer became inspired to work at the intersection of public art and language.
In the late 1970s, after becoming an active participant in the downtown Manhattan artist collective Colab, which included Tom Otterness and Christy Rupp, Holzer began to create her legendary “Truisms” series. Printing anonymous one-line aphorisms in bold and italicized text on broadsheets, she pasted them up in public spaces all over New York City. The “Truisms” are provocative in questioning how we receive and process information. The work elicits debate and represents a range of perspectives. In an era that saw the rise of street art and graffiti, Holzer’s pithy word art would also find viewers by way of T-shirts, stickers and park benches, into which her slogans were carved.
Holzer’s more combative “Inflammatory Essays” (1979–82) took the form of mass-produced posters on colored paper — each featuring paragraphs as compared to the punch-line structure of “Truisms.” These touched on subjects such as violence, misogyny, power structures and consumerism, all of which have continued to be central in her work.
Starting in 1982 as part of a Public Art Fund project, Holzer projected “Protect me from what I want” and other “Truisms” on the Spectacolor board, a large computerized light signboard in New York City’s Times Square. Her “Abuse of power comes as no surprise,” which has appeared on T-shirts as part of the series, has taken on new life in an increasingly politically divided America.
Just as it did in the 1970s, the forcefulness of her work continues to make both viewers and the art world stop and pay attention. She has had solo exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Tate Modern in London and elsewhere. She has also created permanent installations including the New York City AIDS Memorial. A 2014 show at New York’s Cheim & Read featured oil-on-linen canvases based on declassified government files pertaining to detainees from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Find Jenny Holzer prints and sculptures on 1stDibs.
Jenny Holzer, Inflammatory Essays 3 - LED Sculpture, Light Art, Text-based Art
By Jenny Holzer
Located in Hamburg, DE
Jenny Holzer (American, b. 1950) Inflammatory Essays 3, 1982/2002 Medium: Electronic tri-color mini-LED panel, with anodized aluminium housing, incl. power adapter Dimensions: 10.1 x...
LED Light
$8,500
Jenny Holzer -USE WHAT IS DOMINANT IN A CULTURE TO CHANGE IT: Signed glass bowl
By Jenny Holzer
Located in New York, NY
Jenny Holzer USE WHAT IS DOMINANT IN A CULTURE TO CHANGE IT, 2003 Hand Blown Glass Bowl 4 × 10 × 10 inches Edition 68/200 Signed and numbered 68/200 on the underside with Holzer's in...
Blown Glass, Engraving
$22,000
H 46 in W 46 in D 8.75 in
One Light - immersive infinite perceptual ambient light wall sculpture
By Raymond Graber
Located in San Francisco, CA
Raymond Graber‘s celestial light sculptures transform the sense of perception, challenging the human eye’s sense for scale and time with a transcendenta...
Wood, Lights, LED Light, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Neon Light
I.D. Bracelet
By Esperanza Cortes
Located in New Orleans, LA
ESPERANZA CORTÉS is a Colombian born contemporary multidisciplinary artist based in New York City. Cortés has exhibited in the United States in solo and group exhibitions in venues including Smack Mellon Gallery, Neuberger Museum of Art, Bronx Museum of Art, Queens Museum, El Museo Del Barrio, MoMA PS1, Socrates Sculpture Park and White-box Gallery in New York City. Nationally Cortes exhibitions include Cleveland Art Museum, OH, CSU Galleries at Cleveland University, OH, Helen Day Art Center, VT and The Lorenzo Homar...
Metal
$6,550
H 10.5 in W 10.5 in D 6.5 in
Falling Up - Highly Detailed Paper Sculpture of Woman Falling Off a Bicycle
By Ivan Markovic
Located in Chicago, IL
A split second moment is frozen in time as a rider falls from her bike, just barely making contact with the ground. The fluidity with which the artist is able to capture this specifi...
Wire
$34,000
H 48 in W 48 in D 8 in
Thirteen - immersive dimensional perceptual ambient color light wall sculpture
By Raymond Graber
Located in San Francisco, CA
Raymond Graber's celestial light sculptures transform the sense of perception, challenging the human eye’s sense for scale and time with a transcendenta...
Fiberglass, Plaster, Plywood, LED Light, Neon Light
$32,679
H 79.53 in W 17.72 in D 17.72 in
Breach by Tom Price - Large-scale sculpture, mixed technique, vertical
By Tom Price
Located in Paris, FR
Breach is a unique resin sculpture by contemporary artist Tom Price, dimensions are 202 × 45 × 45 cm (79.5 × 17.7 × 17.7 in). The sculpture is signed and comes with a certificate of...
Concrete
$78,145
H 17.72 in W 86.62 in D 13.78 in
Synthesis bench by Tom Price - light sculpture and bench
By Tom Price
Located in Paris, FR
Resin, tar, steel, acrylic, LED. 45 cm × 220 cm × 35 cm. Available on commission. Production delay: 8 months. Synthesis Bench is one of Tom Price's 'hybrid' artworks sitting halfway ...
Steel
$97,090
H 17.72 in W 86.62 in D 27.56 in
Counterpart by Tom Price - pair of functional sculpture (benches), art & design
By Tom Price
Located in Paris, FR
Counterpart is a sculpture by British contemporary artist Tom Price, it is composed by two elements each measuring 45 cm H x 220 cm L x 35 cm D ( 17.7 × 86.6 × 13,78 in). This artwo...
Steel
$32,679
H 81.89 in W 17.72 in D 17.72 in
Synthesis LS1 by Tom Price - Large scale sculpture, vertical artwork, light
By Tom Price
Located in Paris, FR
Synthesis LS1 is a unique sculpture by English artist Tom Price. Dimensions are 208 × 45 × 45 cm (81.8 × 17.7 × 17.7 in). The dimensions include the base of the sculpture, dimensions...
Steel
$60,977
H 17.72 in W 86.62 in D 13.78 in
Counterpart by Tom Price - large sculpture and bench, 7.2ft wide
By Tom Price
Located in Paris, FR
Coal, resin, tar, steel, acrylic, LED. 45 cm × 220 cm × 35 cm. Counterpart II is one of Tom Price's 'hybrid' artworks sitting halfway between art and design: the piece can be seen ex...
Steel
$54,702
H 17.72 in W 86.62 in D 13.78 in
Counterpart (diptych) by Tom Price - Bench sculpture, resin, coal, LED light
By Tom Price
Located in Paris, FR
Counterpart (diptych) is a sculpture by contemporary artist Tom Price. This sculpture is made of coal, resin, tar, steel, acrylic, LED, dimensions are 45 × 220 × 35 cm (17.7 × 86.6 ×...
Steel
$7,577
H 27.56 in W 3.15 in D 4.14 in
Synthesis BM by Tom Price - Sculpture and lighting, LED, original, abstract
By Tom Price
Located in Paris, FR
Synthesis BM is a sculpture by contemporary artist Tom Price. This sculpture is made of resin, tar, acrylic, steel, LED, dimensions are 70 × 8 × 10.5 cm (27.6 × 3.1 × 4.1 in). This a...
Steel
$6,550
H 7.5 in W 16 in D 5.2 in
Nightfall - Highly Detailed Paper Sculpture of Sleeping Figure & Bicycle
By Ivan Markovic
Located in Chicago, IL
This realistic sculpture is created from scraps of paper and glue. The sculpture is inspired by the characters found in cities around the world. In this case, a figure sleeps beside a bicycle. A backpack is used as a pillow and shoes has been kicked off. Every attention has been paid to the smallest of details in this truly amazing paper sculpture. This sculpture is presented in a custom acrylic display case...
Copper, Wire
Truisms (set of 12), by Jenny Holzer
By Jenny Holzer
Located in Dubai, Dubai
TRUISMS (SET OF 12), 2018 Screenprint on cherrywood 10 x 15 cm Copyright The Artist
Wood Panel, Screen