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'I like to compose the presentation of language…I like to make the language spatial. I like coming at it various ways to various ends.' —Jenny HolzerHarnessing writing in its most raw, simplistic visual depiction, Holzer uses words, language, a multitude of media and the public arena to remark upon the paradoxes and extreme subjects and situations in society. Starting out as a street artist in the 1970s with the New York City posters, the accessibility of her work is a crucial component, both in terms of placement and appearance. Neutral and concise the worded format is clearly presented, ‘I want people to get what I put out or at least be constructively mystified.’i Discussing her use of capital letters in her messaging, Holzer reflected, ‘I went to all CAPS early on, by the second street poster everything was capitalised and italicised to show some sense of urgency and to speak a bit loudly and also for the text to look strong. In the street there is a lot of competition.’ii Holzer’s simple phrases resonate with a poetic veracity which the artist attributes to her Midwestern background. ‘Midwesterners are impatient with things that are too elaborate or too silly. They want to get things done so they do it in the most expeditious way – expeditious as in fast and right.’iii
Throughout her oeuvre, Holzer presents her scathing ideas and arguments, tackling difficult moral themes: the AIDS epidemic, conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, Iraq and Syria, gun violence, prostitution and women’s experiences among other subjects. She notes, ‘We don’t need to work on joy… but one must argue with cruelty, homicide, abuse of any sort. So, I like to argue.’iv
Often reusing the messaging from her previous works, Arno, 1998, is an extension of Holzer’s first xenon projection in 1996, part of a collaboration with Helmut Lang for the Biennale di Firenze. The text, Arno, was projected from a canoe club across the river onto the facade of a brothel. Unifying the language within the text and the public display, Arno explores physical sexual experience and the reasons to be naked or clothed, from sex to shame and murder. She notes, ‘The Arno writing started as text for a video directed by Mark Pellington for ‘Red Hot and Dance’, an AIDS fundraiser. I rewrote it for the ‘Biennale di Firenze: il Tempo e la Moda’ show in Florence. The text rose on signs in the pavilion I shared with Helmut Lang. In the middle of the night it was shown on the Arno River; this was my first Xenon projection. A variation of the text is at the Guggehnheim, Bilbao.’v Alongside the projection in Florence, Holzer and Helmut Lang created a perfume, bringing to life the line ‘I SMELL YOU ON MY SKIN’ – a heady scent of alcohol, tobacco, starch, sweat and sperm: ‘a love of some sort.’vi
Holzer’s writing and mode of reaching its audience; from posters, T-shirts, marble carvings, LED signs and light projections, contests ignorance, brutality and oppression with compassion, wit and courage. Put simply, for Holzer, ‘language is a good way to convey meaning.’ vii
Jenny Holzer
ArnoI WALK IN
I SEE YOU
I WATCH YOU
I SCAN YOU
I WAIT FOR YOU
I TICKLE YOU
I TEASE YOU
I SEARCH YOU
I BREATHE YOU
I TALK
I SMILE
I TOUCH YOUR HAIR
YOU ARE THE ONE
YOU ARE THE ONE WHO DID THIS TO ME
YOU ARE MY OWNI SHOW YOU
I FEEL YOU
I ASK YOU
I DON’T ASK
I WON’T ASK YOU
I CAN’T TELL YOU
I LIEI AM CRYING HARD
THERE WAS BLOOD
NO ONE TOLD ME
NO ONE KNEW
MY MOTHER KNOWSI FORGET YOUR NAME
I DON’T THINK
I BURY MY HEAD
I BURY YOUMY FEVER
MY SKIN
I CANNOT BREATHE
I CANNOT EAT
I CANNOT WALK
I AM LOSING TIME
I AM LOSING GROUND
I CANNOT STAND ITI CRY
I CRY OUT
I BITE
I BITE YOUR LIP
I BREATHE YOUR BREATH
I PULSE
I PRAY
I PRAY ALOUD
I SMELL YOU ON MY SKINI SAY THE WORD
I SAY YOUR NAME
I COVER YOU
I SHELTER YOU
I RUN FROM YOU
I SLEEP BESIDE YOU
I SMELL YOU ON MY CLOTHES
I KEEP YOUR CLOTHES
Installation shot: Bolzano, Museion, Che cosa sono le nuvole, 7 February - 2 May 2010. Left: Jenny Holzer, Arno. Table: Zoe Leonard, Untitled, 2003, 5 banana skins, 7 grapefruit skins, 5 orange skins, stickers, thread, buttons, zipper, needles, string. Back wall: Painting by Spencer Finch. Image: © Antonio Maniscalco. © Zoe Leonard. © Spencer Finch. Being There: Revisiting Tuesday Evenings at the Modern- Jenny Holzer
i Jenny Holzer in interview with Foundation Beyeler, online
ii Ibid.
iii Bruce Ferguson, ‘Wordsmith: An Interview with Jenny Holzer by Bruce Ferguson’, Jenny Holzer: Signs, exh. cat., Des Moines Art Center, 1971, p. 66
iv Jenny Holzer in interview with Foundation Beyeler, online
v Jenny Holzer in interview with Joan Simon in Samuel Beckett, Elias Canetti and Jenny Holzer, Jenny Holzer, London, 1998, p.33
vi Jenny Holzer in interview with Joan Simon in Samuel Beckett, Elias Canetti and Jenny Holzer, Jenny Holzer, London, 1998, p.33
vii Jenny Holzer in interview with Foundation Beyeler, onlineProvenance
Yvon Lambert Gallery, Paris
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1999Exhibited
Paris, Yvon Lambert, Jenny Holzer: Blue, 21 September - 31 October 1998
Avignon, Collection Lambert, Theorema, Une Collection Privée en Italie. La Collection d'Enea Righi, 5 February - 29 May 2005, p. 238, 241 (illustrated, p. 64)
Bolzano, Museion, Che Cosa Sono Le Nuvole?, 21 March - 19 September 2010, p. 264 (illustrated, p. 54)
Avignon, La Prison Sainte-Anne, La Disparition des Lucioles, 18 May - 25 November 2014, p. 376 (illustrated, p. 54)
Modena, MATA, The Mannequin of History: Art after the Fabrications of Critique and Culture, 18 September 2015 - 31 January 2016, pl. 48, n.p. (illustrated)Artist Biography
Jenny Holzer
American • 1950
Jenny Holzer is a Conceptual artist best known for her text-based public art projects. Holzer's work speaks of violence, oppression, sexuality, feminism, power, war and death. Throughout the years, Holzer has employed a variety of media, from a T-shirt to a plaque to an LED sign. Starting in the 1970s with the New York City posters, and continuing through her recent light projections on landscape and architecture, she uses her art as a form of communication and commentary. Holzer's art hangs in important collections around the globe including 7 World Trade Center, the Venice Biennale, the Guggenheim Museums in New York and Bilbao and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
110
Arno
vertical electronic LED sign with blue diodes
277.1 x 13.4 x 9.6 cm (109 1/8 x 5 1/4 x 3 3/4 in.)
Executed in 1998, this work is number 1 from an edition of 5.
Estimate
£50,000 - 70,000
Sold for £126,000
Tamila Kerimova
Specialist, Director, Head of Day Sale, 20th Century & Contemporary Art
+ 44 20 7318 4065
tkerimova@phillips.com
Out of the Blue: The Enea Righi Collection
London Auction 16 April 2021
101
Etel Adnan
California #17
Estimate £30,000 - 40,000
Sold for £88,200
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102
Etel Adnan
California #19
Estimate £30,000 - 40,000
Sold for £103,320
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103
Alighiero Boetti
Aerei
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ♠
Sold for £214,200
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104
Alighiero Boetti
Senza titolo (1977 per 1978)
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ♠
Sold for £688,000
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105
Alighiero Boetti
Senza Titolo
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ♠
Sold for £226,800
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106
Alighiero Boetti
Vedere i Laterali
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ♠
Sold for £302,400
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107
Alighiero Boetti
Faccine
Estimate £15,000 - 20,000 ♠
Sold for £102,060
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108
Daniel Buren
Peinture acrylique blanche sur tissu rayé blanc et orange
Estimate On Request
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109
Carl Andre
45-Part Steel Cut
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000
Sold for £126,000
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110
Jenny Holzer
Arno
Estimate £50,000 - 70,000
Sold for £126,000
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111
Glenn Ligon
Mirror #2
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000
Sold for £627,500
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112
Malcolm Morley
The Boat, The Knight, The Tank
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000 ♠
Sold for £189,000
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113
Louise Lawler
Collage Cartoon
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000
Sold for £105,840
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114
This lot is no longer available.
115
Tom Sachs
119 Composition no. 11: 1929 Composition with Blue and Red
Estimate £15,000 - 20,000
Sold for £95,760
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116
Tom Sachs
Prada Double Cheeseburger
Estimate £15,000 - 20,000
Sold for £52,920
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117
Kelley Walker
Untitled (Recycle Sign)
Estimate £30,000 - 50,000
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118
Haim Steinbach
Untitled (Moroccan hats, head forms)
Estimate £20,000 - 30,000
Sold for £32,760
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119
Mimmo Rotella
Senza Titolo
Estimate £12,000 - 18,000 ♠
Sold for £15,120
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120
Wyatt Kahn
Untitled
Estimate £20,000 - 30,000 ♠
Sold for £18,900
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121
Mark Francis
Abacus (grey)
Estimate £10,000 - 15,000 ♠
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122
Ian Wallace
Construction Site I (Veronique)
Estimate £15,000 - 20,000 ♠
Sold for £18,900
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123
Andres Serrano
Dante's Inferno
Estimate £8,000 - 12,000
Sold for £16,380
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124
Candida Höfer
Musée du Louvre Paris XVI 2005
Estimate £20,000 - 30,000 ♠
Sold for £32,760
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125
Andres Serrano
The Church (St Clotilde II, Paris)
Estimate £5,000 - 7,000
Sold for £8,820
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126
Andres Serrano
The Morgue (Rat Poison Suicide II)
Estimate £2,000 - 3,000
Sold for £5,040
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