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Jenny Holzer
Untitled (From the Living Series)
1981

Name: Untitled (From the Living Series)
Brand: Jenny Holzer
Rating: 5 (14 reviews)

$33,000List Price

Shop All Jenny Holzer

Jenny Holzer

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 HolzerSelections from the Living Series: It is hard to know what people want..., 1980-1982

$30,000

H 7.5 in W 10.5 in D 0.25 in

Selections from the Living Series: It is hard to know what people want...

By Jenny Holzer

Located in Beverly Hills, CA

Edition 1 of 3 Acquired by current owner from Sotheby's Sale in 2021 Other works from this series have been acquired by The Whitney Museum of American Art, MOMA, National Gallery o...

Category

1980s Contemporary Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Bronze

Jenny HolzerJenny Holzer Barbara Gladstone gallery 1986 (announcement), 1986

$340Sale Price|20% Off

H 4 in W 6 in

Jenny Holzer Barbara Gladstone gallery 1986 (announcement)

By Jenny Holzer

Located in NEW YORK, NY

Jenny Holzer, Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York, 1986: Rare vintage original 1980s announcement card published on the occasion of Jenny Holzer's exhibition, "Under a Rock," at Bar...

Category

1980s Conceptual More Art

Materials

Offset

Jenny HolzerJenny Holzer, Inflammatory Essays: Shriek When the Pain Hits..., 1996

$5,177

H 2.6 in W 1.97 in D 0.44 in

Jenny Holzer, Inflammatory Essays: Shriek When the Pain Hits...

By Jenny Holzer

Located in Hamburg, DE

Jenny Holzer (American, b. 1950) Inflammatory Essays: Shriek When the Pain Hits During Interrogation, 1996 Multiple: Pewter multiple with engraved text Dimensions: 6.6 × 5 × 1.1 cm (...

Category

20th Century Contemporary Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Metal

Jenny HolzerHalf Dead, "Inflammatory Essay" (from Documenta 1982), 1982

$550

H 17 in W 17 in

Half Dead, "Inflammatory Essay" (from Documenta 1982)

By Jenny Holzer

Located in Toronto, Ontario

Jenny Holzer is one of the most important and original artists of the 20th century. Her body of work, with its emphasis on text, is provocative and occasionally frightening, manipulating the language of folk wisdom, pop culture, and government slogan to produce a commentary on global issues including power structures, gender struggle, economics, voting, and warfare. Holzer's iconic "Inflammatory Essays", produced between 1979 and 1982, were first pasted on walls throughout heavily populated metro areas including New York, and shortly after in other cities. Unsigned and commercially produced, they subverted the conventions of advertising, graffiti, and public art. Each essay was in a different eye-catching color to maximize viewers' attention. It was also helpful when one Essay replaced an older one. The texts were derived from her childhood interest in rapturous writings. Holzer tried to emulate a similar style for her essays, yet borrowed from political theorists (notably Mao, Lenin, and Emma Goldman...

Category

1980s Conceptual Prints and Multiples

Materials

Lithograph, Offset

Jenny HolzerTruth Before Power, 2004

$7,000

H 21.25 in W 17.75 in

Truth Before Power

By Jenny Holzer

Located in Toronto, Ontario

Jenny Holzer (b. 1950) is a multi-disciplinary American artist best known for her text-based public art projects. She was the first woman to represent the United States at the 1990 V...

Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Black and White Photography

Materials

Digital Pigment

Jenny HolzerJenny Holzer, Inflammatory Essays (twelve works) – 12 Prints from 1982, 1982

$5,530

H 10.01 in W 10.01 in

Jenny Holzer, Inflammatory Essays (twelve works) – 12 Prints from 1982

By Jenny Holzer

Located in Hamburg, DE

Jenny Holzer (American, b. 1950) Inflammatory Essays (twelve works), 1982 Medium: Set of 12 offset lithographs on colored paper Dimensions: 25.4 x 25.4 cm (10 x 10 in) Edition: Issue...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Abstract Prints

Materials

Offset

Jenny HolzerMore Trouble Than Thought, Screen Print with Palladium Leaf, 2021, 2021

$4,400

H 23.63 in W 29.93 in

More Trouble Than Thought, Screen Print with Palladium Leaf, 2021

By Jenny Holzer

Located in Manchester, GB

Jenny Holzer, More Trouble Than Thought, 2021 Screen print with palladium leaf finish on paper 23 3/5 × 29 9/10 in (60 × 76 cm) Edition 31 of 125 Hand-signed by artist and numbered ...

Category

2010s Contemporary Interior Prints

Materials

Screen

Skylar FeinThe Red Sentences, 2019

$8,125

H 48 in W 27.5 in D 4 in

The Red Sentences

By Skylar Fein

Located in New Orleans, LA

SKYLAR FEIN was born in Greenwich Village and raised in the Bronx. He has had many careers including teaching nonviolent resistance under the umbrella of the Quakers, working for a g...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Mixed Media

Materials

Plexiglass, Plaster, Wood, Acrylic

Darren AlmondReserve, 2008

Price Upon Request

H 11.75 in W 78.375 in D 1 in

Reserve

By Darren Almond

Located in San Francisco, CA

Edition of 3

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Sculptures

Pablo LehmannDefinition of Writing, 2014

$3,500

H 15.75 in W 21.65 in

Definition of Writing

By Pablo Lehmann

Located in Miami, FL

Definition of Writing 2014 Paper cut out 15.75h x 21.65w in PL006 Pablo Lehmann was born in 1974 and currently lives and works in Buenos Aires. He has been the subject of solo and g...

Category

2010s Contemporary More Art

Materials

Paper

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Yoshishige SaitoWork, 1980s Screenprint on paper, framed, 1980s

Work, 1980s Screenprint on paper, framed

Located in Hong Kong, HK

Yoshishige Saito Work, 1980s Screenprint and punching on paper 31.30 x 28.50 cm (12.32 x 11.22 in) Framed 40 x 37 x 3 cm

Category

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Materials

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Park Seo-BoEcriture No. 1 - 06 (2006) Limited edition of 99 by Park Seo-Bo, 2006

Ecriture No. 1 - 06 (2006) Limited edition of 99 by Park Seo-Bo

By Park Seo-Bo

Located in Hong Kong, HK

Park Seo-Bo Ecriture No. 1 - 06 ((2006). Edition 72/99 Print (casting with handmade paper), hand-coloring with acrylic Signed, titled, dated and numbered in pencil 76 x 55.5cm (shee...

Category

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Materials

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Park Seo-BoEcriture No. 2 - 06 (2006) Limited edition of 99 by Park Seo-Bo, 2006

Ecriture No. 2 - 06 (2006) Limited edition of 99 by Park Seo-Bo

By Park Seo-Bo

Located in Hong Kong, HK

Park Seo-Bo Ecriture No. 2 - 06 ((2006). Edition 66/99 Print (casting with handmade paper), hand-coloring with acrylic 76 x 55.5cm (sheet)

Category

Early 2000s Abstract Abstract Prints

Materials

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Chiyu UemaeUntitled, 2003, 2003

Untitled, 2003

By Chiyu Uemae

Located in Hong Kong, HK

Untitled (2003) Screenprint on wove paper Signed, dated, and numbered by the artist Date: 2003 06 28 Ed. 11/26 21.5 x 16 cm (Image) 37.1 x 27.1 cm (Sheet)

Category

Early 2000s Prints and Multiples

Materials

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Chiyu UemaeUntitled, 1982 Limited Edition of 6 by Chiyu Uemae, signed, dated and numbered, 1982

Untitled, 1982 Limited Edition of 6 by Chiyu Uemae, signed, dated and numbered

By Chiyu Uemae

Located in Hong Kong, HK

Untitled (1982) Screenprint on wove paper Signed, dated and numbered by the artist. Date: 1982 2 4 Ed. 6/6 50.9 x 34.6 cm (Image) 62.8 x 46.4 cm (Sheet) This screenprint by Chiyu Ue...

Category