Jenny Holzer Quotations

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.

I suspect you've noticed that making art can be lonely.

There's something about light that's right for these terrible subjects. It's a way of having beauty let you come closer than you might otherwise.

There's something about light that's right for these terrible subjects,

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 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 began to see that the short texts I was writing were poster material.

Usually going places makes me feel optimistic. And I'm a hillbilly, so heading to the countryside made sense a number of ways.

Well, I think in trying to make life seem real enough that one is moved to do something about the more atrocious things. By going really far afield into a completely fake world, maybe there's a chance to make things resonant somehow - or in this case, truly terrifying. To make it as bad as the real stuff that's happening.

I'm always trying to bring unusual content to a different audience - a non-art-world audience.

It can be kind of gruesome at times, making things alone. I don't want to be too dramatic, but it's hard. It's necessary to start most work alone.

I was hesitant to approach people. I'm socially awkward. But I was working on a number of memorials, and finally it dawned on me: These are memorials to people who wrote, so I should use their writing. That's how I started to quit.

Knowing yourself lets you understand others.

One of the glories and terrors of working in public is that you do see if your output means anything to anyone.

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.

Expressing anger is necessary.

On the worst days, I don't feel like an artist.

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.

Deviants are sacrificed to increase group solidarity

It's fun wandering around other people's minds.

Savor kindness because cruelty is always possible later.

Sloppy thinking gets worse over time.

If you are an artist and you are honest, you are never good enough.

Turn soft and lovely anytime you have the chance.

Romantic love was invented to manipulate women

It's necessary to start most work alone. But I'm tickled to death when I can pull somebody in or join someone, whether it's borrowing poetry or traveling with an associate.

Turn soft and lovely any time you have a chance

A little knowledge can go a long way.

I am not free because I can be exploded anytime.

Raise boys and girls the same way.

A positive attitude means all the difference in the world.

I really like doing the laundry, because I succeed at it. But I loathe putting it away. It is already clean.

I think of a piece, and then people who are competent fabricate it. But lately I've started finger painting, which probably should be a joke but isn't!

Use what is dominant in a culture to change it quickly.

Killing is unavoidable but is nothing to be proud of

Disgust is the appropriate response to most situations

SPIT ALL OVER SOMEONE WITH A MOUTHFUL OF MILK IF YOU WANT TO FIND OUT SOMETHING ABOUT THEIR PERSONALITY FAST.

A name means a lot just by itself.

Enjoy yourself because you can't change anything anyway

When my daughter was young, she thought all electronic signs were mine.

It's good to be employable, but I hope to show the truth. The paintings seem true because nobody wants me to do them.

BY YOUR RESPONSE TO DANGER IT IS EASY TO TELL HOW YOU HAVE LIVED AND WHAT HAS BEEN DONE TO YOU. YOU SHOW WHETHER YOU WANT TO STAY ALIVE, WHETHER YOU THINK YOU DESERVE TO, AND WHETHER YOU BELIEVE IT'S ANY GOOD TO ACT.

Someone else's body is a place for your mind to go.

A sense of timing is the mark of a genius.

Exceptional people deserve special concessions.

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.

Hands on your breast can keep your heart beating.

A sense of duty imprisons you.

Any surplus is immoral.

I try to excite myself so I stay crazy.

Stupid people shouldn’t breed.

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.

There's a fine line between information and propaganda.

I wanted to be an abstract painter, but I was rotten at it.

Remember you always have freedom of choice.

Anger or hate can be a useful motivating force

It is embarrassing to be caught and killed for stupid reasons

Expiring for love is beautiful but stupid.

Alienation produces eccentrics or revolutionaries.

I moved to New York in the 1970s and started writing when I was at the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program.

It can be kind of gruesome at times, making things alone.

How do you resign yourself to something that will never be? You stop wanting just that thing. You go numb. Or you kill the agent of desire.

Being alone with yourself is increasingly unpopular.

Being happy is more important than anything else.

It is in your self-interest to find a way to be very tender.

Going with the flow is soothing but risky.

Faithfulness is a social not a biological law.

It's important to keep life simple, and if I'm traveling, I only can do a couple of things, and those are the things that I'm meant to be doing.

I get up about four times a night and go back to sleep, or not. Then I swill tea around 8 a.m. I answer e-mail, while I stall thinking about whatever scares me.

What urge will save us now that sex won't?

At times your unconsciousness is truer than your conscious mind

Boredom makes you do crazy things

The epiphany for me was that I wasnt a writer, and I had to do something with these texts. I put them in the streets as posters.

Drama often obscures the real issues

Lack of charisma can be fatal.

The most profound things are inexpressible.

Everyone's work is equally important.

I used language because I wanted to offer content that people - not necessarily art people - could understand.

It's better to be a good person than a famous person.

A lot of professionals are crackpots.

I wasn't sure I was an artist, so I thought maybe I just was throwing ideas out for people to consider.

Ensure that your life stays in flux.

When you start liking pain things start to get interesting.

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.

Fear is the most elegant weapon, your hands are never messy

THERE IS A PERIOD WHEN IT IS CLEAR THAT YOU HAVE GONE WRONG BUT YOU CONTINUE. SOMETIMES THERE IS A LUXURIOUS AMOUNT OF TIME BEFORE ANYTHING BAD HAPPENS.

All things are delicately interconnected.

TRYING TO BE POPULAR IN HIGH SCHOOL IS LIKE TRYING TO BE MAYOR OF A CITY THAT WON'T EXIST IN FOUR YEARS.

Slipping into madness is good for the sake of comparison

If you have many desires your life will be interesting.

Protect me from what I want.

Abuse of power comes as no surprise

My arrogance knows no bounds and I will make no peace today, and you should be so lucky to find a woman like me.

You are a victim of the rules you live by.

At times inactivity is preferable to mindless functioning.

The epiphany for me was that I wasn't a writer, and I had to do something with these texts. I put them in the streets as posters.