This is an exhibition catalog of sorts which selects career highlights of iconic eighties artist Jenny Holzer, very popular and critically acclaimed in the day. Her striking work existed on the border between art and literature, consisting as it did of provocative aphorisms, usually intended to be displayed publicly in somewhat incongruous places, though eventually they made the gallery and museum circuits as well. As they were often displayed either as LED displays, on billboards, or posted as bills which were easily defaced or weatherbeaten, and the LEDs were interestingly synchronized in a room filled with them, they don't lend themselves to a book particularly well, yet this book does a good job of trying. It also contains a brief introductory essay and an interview. . ( )

Holzer is a feminist conceptual artist who works mainly in words. I like her work a lot. It’s more brutal than Barbara Kruger’s, but in the same vein.

Among Holzer’s Truisms (1977-79): “A relaxed man is not necessarily a better man.” “Abstraction is a type of decadence.” “Being judgmental is a sign of life.” “Being sure of yourself means you’re a fool.” “Believing in rebirth is the same as admitting defeat.” “Categorizing fear is calming.” “Class structure is as artificial as plastic.” “Everything that’s interesting is new.” “Freedom is a luxury not a necessity.” “If you can’t leave your mark give up.” “It is heroic to try to stop time.” “It’s just an accident that your parents are your parents.” “Killing is unavoidable but is nothing to be proud of.” “Lack of charisma can be fatal.” “Loving animals is a substitute activity.” “Low expectations are good protection.” “Planning for the future is escapism.” “To volunteer is reactionary.” “Trading a life for a life is fair enough.” “You have to hurt others to be extraordinary.” “Your actions are pointless if no one notices.” I like words, so I feel like they work for me about as well on the page as they do installed on LED screens, but I understand that a lot of people find the physical presentation important, and I admit it was fun to see pictures of “Lack of charisma can be fatal” under the Caesar’s Palace sign, and “Raise boys and girls the same way” on a stadium Jumbotron.

Living: “It’s nice when you decide you like someone and, without declaring yourself, do what’s possible to further his happiness. This can take the form of gifts, lovely food, publicity, or advance warning.” “It is hard to know what someone wants because you can’t actually feel his needs. You develop ways to read or anticipate demands or you wait until you’re assaulted and then his requirements become tangible.” “Effigies let you study or act upon someone with impunity. They are good for practice.” “It takes a while before you can step over inert bodies and go ahead with what you were trying to do.” “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.”

Lustmord (lust-murder) has three narratives: victim, perpetrator, outside observer. It’s perhaps the most disturbing version of Holzer’s repeated themes of violation, penetration, the creation and exploitation of holes on/in people, and the rage and disgust people feel for those they have harmed. Holzer had these words written in women’s blood, and also on women’s skin, and engraved them in silver wrapped around human bones.

Then there’s the Survival series: “Protect me from what I want.” “Outer space is where you discover wonder, where you fight and never hurt Earth. If you stop believing this, your mood turns ugly.” “Savor kindness because cruelty is always possible later.” “Spit all over someone with a mouthful of milk if you want to find out something about their personality fast.” “Use what is dominant in a culture to change it quickly.” “If you had behaved nicely the communists wouldn’t exist.” “You can’t reach the people who can kill you at will, so you have to go home and think about what to do.” ( )