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Honorand
Jenny Holzer Piece Now in Museum Collection
 Northampton,
Mass.—The Smith College Museum of Art is pleased to announce
the acquisition of a work for its permanent collection by
artist Jenny Holzer. The LED piece, entitled Inflammatory Essays,
Living, Survival was created in 2003 and is now on view
in the Sacerdote Gallery, located on the main floor of the
Museum.
Holzer, who will receive an
honorary degree from Smith during Commencement exercises
on Sunday, May 17, is a preeminent contemporary artist whose
work is currently showcased in the major retrospective, "Protect
Protect," at
the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.
Inflammatory Essays,
Living, Survival (2003), by Jenny Holzer (American,
1950–). Electronic LED; red diodes. Purchased
with the Janet Wright Ketcham, class of 1953, Fund,
2009. |
In a statement provided by the
Holzer studio, the Inflammatory
Essays (see excerpt below) are described as "a
collection of 100-word texts that were printed on colored
paper and posted throughout New York City. Like any manifesto,
the voice in each essay urges and espouses a strong and
particular ideology. By masking the author of the essays,
Holzer allows the viewer to assess ideologies divorced
from the personalities that propel them. With this series,
Holzer invites the reader to consider the urgent necessity
of social change, the possibility for manipulation of the
public, and the conditions that attend revolution."
Of the text series Living
and Survival,
the artist writes: “….Living was shown
on cast bronze plaques and hand-lettered metal signs….
The subject matter is everyday life with a twist. The
tone of the writing is matter-of-fact. Survival was
the first series written for electronic signs. It appeared
on UNEX signs made by the same company that created the
Spectacolor board at One Times Square. Survival is
more urgent than Living."
INFLAMMATORY ESSAYS 1979-1982
(excerpt)
A CRUEL BUT ANCIENT
LAW DEMANDS AN
EYE FOR AN EYE. MURDER MUST BE
ANSWERED BY EXECUTION. ONLY GOD HAS
THE RIGHT TO TAKE A LIFE AND WHEN
SOMEONE BREAKS THIS LAW HE WILL BE
PUNISHED. JUSTICE MUST COME SWIFTLY. IT
DOESN'T HELP ANYONE TO STALL. THE
VICTIM'S FAMILY CRIES OUT FOR
SATISFACTION, THE COMMUNITY BEGS FOR
PROTECTION AND THE DEPARTED CRAVES
VENGEANCE SO HE CAN REST. THE KILLER
KNEW IN ADVANCE THERE WAS NO EXCUSE
FOR HIS ACT. TRULY HE HAS TAKEN HIS
OWN LIFE. HE, NOT SOCIETY, IS
RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS FATE. HE ALONE
STANDS GUILTY AND DAMNED.
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