“PROTECT ME FROM WHAT I WANT.”
“Money creates taste.”
“Abuse of power comes as no surprise.”
Jenny Holzer says writing doesn’t come easily to her. A burden, she calls it—and yet the artist is internationally recognized for transforming dystopian language into art.
Starting in the late 1970s, the Ohio native rose to fame by penning and printing reams of Orwellian phrases onto New York City posters, sales receipts and condom wrappers. She flashed her so-called Truisms onto billboards and scrolled them like news tickers across entire buildings and stadium JumboTrons. She caught the world’s attention by pushing her art into a public domain reserved for news and advertising, then embedded it into architecture in ways few have attempted since the Sistine Chapel.
