Most would agree that words are powerful. They have even been credited with shifting world history. This is the currency of New York artist Jenny Holzer’s powerful work. The image shown here is a portion of an installation at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, composed of 9 LED columns that scroll phrases Holzer calls Truisms. She has been collecting short, powerful one-liners since the 1970s. A few notable ones include: A LITTLE KNOWLEDGE GOES A LONG WAY, YOUR OLDEST FEARS ARE YOUR WORST ONES, ABUSE OF POWER COMES AS NO SURPRISE and MONEY CREATES TASTE. As a conceptual artist, the art and its meaning manifests in the minds of the observer, rather than being embodied in the physical art object. The installation is visually compelling, but the words are what impact and haunt you.
It is interesting to note that Holzer began her art career as an abstract expressionist but became frustrated that she could not adequately animate important themes like physical violence, systematic abuses of power, love, lust and longing. She developed her superpower when she started distilling erudite, academic texts into provocative phrases with a radical, modern mindset. She has displayed her work in museums, festivals as well as public spaces like Times Square. Holzer for the past 40 years has used her simple straightforward words to illuminate war, politics and death. She is perhaps admired the most for resisting ignorance and violence with kindness, courage and humor.