Great Artists
Jenny Holzer
This neo-conceptual artist's "Truisms" message in Times Square in 1982 resonates today.
Jenny Holzer, born in 1950 in Ohio, now lives and works in New York. She began compiling her cryptic and observant “Truisms” when she was 25 years old in the mid 1970s, and she has made a career of presenting them publicly – on billboards, projections on buildings, T-shirts, rock faces, posters, benches, and in museums. Literature, philosophy, and politics inform her art, but the political messages hit hardest, such as “Abuse of power comes as no surprise.” While her work is pointed and sometimes harsh, it is also appreciated for its humor, courage, and kind intentions.
Holzer has presented her work in public places and international exhibitions around the world, including Times Square, the Venice Biennale, the Guggenheim Museums in New York and Bilbao, and the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
In 2024, the Guggenheim presented "Jenny Holzer: Light Line," above, a reimagining of Holzer's 1989 installation at the museum with an updated display of scrolling texts climbing all six ramps to the building's oculus and a selection of her work, including her Truisms and Inflammatory Essays series.
[Photo credit: Jenny Holzer’s “Truisms” featured in Times Square as part of the Public Art Fund’s “Messages to the Public” exhibition (1982), Lisa Kahane N.Y.C. Art Resource, N.Y.]