Words matter. These are the best Jenny Holzer Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
Sloppy thinking gets worse over time.
One thing that changed when I moved upstate was that I became interested in different materials. I started making the stone benches because I was seeing rocks.
So much of art-making is about reducing things to the essentials, so I don’t feel particularly crippled by this. I don’t want it to look natural because then I would be making a documentary film.
I’d been doing projects outdoors for the public. I made pigeons eat geometry by putting bread out in rhomboids and triangles. I don’t know if this activity made sense, but the work was available.
I suspect you’ve noticed that making art can be lonely.
It can be kind of gruesome at times, making things alone.
Company makes my day.
Lack of charisma can be fatal.
One of the glories and terrors of working in public is that you do see if your output means anything to anyone.
That’s the test of street art – to see if anybody stopped. People would cross out ones they didn’t like and would star others. I liked that people would engage with them.
I’d paint long strips of canvas and abandon them on the beach, or put bread out in geometric patterns for the pigeons downtown. I wanted people to find something nice and intriguing to puzzle over. Then I’d go back to see if the things were still there, or if anyone would notice.
I used language because I wanted to offer content that people – not necessarily art people – could understand.
I wanted to support things that are helpful to people and maybe bash what I think is dangerous. So I switched from being everybody to being myself.
I began to see that the short texts I was writing were poster material.
Expiring for love is beautiful but stupid.
On the worst days, I don’t feel like an artist.
The desperate things seem to require attention, the lovely things seem to elicit celebration. If I had to choose, I would go to the awful in the hope that doing something could yield a happier result.
I seldom have my stuff up unless I’m testing it. If I’m worrying about a painting, I put it up and see if I detest it quickly or slowly. Otherwise I have things by other artists.
The most profound things are inexpressible.