jenny holtzer

When internalising a statement such as this, your mind is forced to consider it on a personal level. In this sense, the audience cannot escape the work. By having an approach such as this, everyone who sees the statements within the work are quickly challenged to consider it's messages. In turn, Holtzer allows her work to reach to a large audience in a direct manner. .
             JH started exhibiting her work in the gallery space. Holtzer wanted to reach and connect with a wider audience. She fulfilled this aim through shifting her works into public areas. By doing this she by-passed the art gallery system and placed her work into the context of popular culture through using billboards and electronic signs. Through this process, Holtzer has subverted "The slow and elitist- way in which art tends to find an audience."" (extract 1) Now JH had a new strategy as her works started to appear on the NY streets displaying short statements called aphorisms or in JH words her "truisms-.
             Extract1 "JH started writing short slogans and leaving them in public places.
             e.g. One of her popular truisms located in Times Square in NY states "abuse of power comes as no surprise-. This statement refers to the use of power, it makes the audience reflect and question political and social issues, How has power been used, they question, is power being abused and reflect on what would they do with such power? This statement springs on the audience i.e. "brings us up short- (extract 2) as it stumps the audience to respond to the statement, but then this statement can be playing on a cliché as "absolute power corrupts absolutely- as the audience can see .
             with past events absolute power shows destruction and relates to one of Holtzers themes i.e. war. .
             As her worked progressed she started placing surprising texts on materials such as stickers and plaques, where normal advertisements are expected to be. This allowed her to reach people that might not pay attention to "art-.