Jenny Holzer Mixed Media
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.
Early 2000s Conceptual Jenny Holzer Mixed Media
Blown Glass, Engraving
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Jenny Holzer Mixed Media
LED Light
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Jenny Holzer Mixed Media
Wood, Lights, LED Light, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Neon Light
2010s Conceptual Jenny Holzer Mixed Media
Mixed Media
2010s Conceptual Jenny Holzer Mixed Media
Polyurethane
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Jenny Holzer Mixed Media
Glass, Lights, Panel
2010s Contemporary Jenny Holzer Mixed Media
Concrete
2010s Contemporary Jenny Holzer Mixed Media
Textile, Linen, Yarn
2010s Contemporary Jenny Holzer Mixed Media
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Conceptual Jenny Holzer Mixed Media
Polyurethane
2010s Contemporary Jenny Holzer Mixed Media
Stainless Steel
2010s Contemporary Jenny Holzer Mixed Media
Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Jenny Holzer Mixed Media
Glass, Lights, Panel
2010s Conceptual Jenny Holzer Mixed Media
Steel
2010s Contemporary Jenny Holzer Mixed Media
Wood Panel, Screen
Jenny Holzer mixed media for sale on 1stDibs.
Artists Similar to Jenny Holzer
- 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022While the takeaway of Jenny Holzer’s art is subjective to each individual, her work focuses mainly on the delivery of words and ideas in public spaces with large-scale installations. Shop a selection of Jenny Holzer artwork and prints on 1stDibs.
- 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022Jenny Holzer’s medium is visual arts, specifically conceptual art and installations. She draws on social and political commentaries to create her text-rich work. You can shop a selection of Jenny Holzer’s pieces from some of the world’s top art dealers on 1stDibs.