“I used language because I wanted to offer content that people – not necessarily art people – could understand”
—Jenny Holzer Opening with the remark “I DO NOT HEAR”, Jenny Holzer’s Blue Blue is a soundless installation piece that presents a cyclical text in cobalt LED lights. Presented in motion, much like a stock market ticker, the poetic narrative presents an emotive exploration of unhealthy relationships and their aftermaths. The phrases, which are written from the first person, poignantly convey this widely experienced trauma on a deeply personal level, allowing the personal experience to seep into collective politics and psychology. The lyrical movement of the text in Blue Blue was important to Holzer, and was the impetus for her use of electronic signs, “because motion is much like the spoken word… I write my text by saying the words out loud, or I write and then say words, to test them. Having text move is an extension of that process.”
Trading floor, New York, 1980s. Image: STOCKFOLIO® / Alamy Stock Photo Holzer’s use of isolated, capitalised text is a conscious means to ensure the accessibility of her messages. This builds of the foundations of her artistic practise, which involved pasting posters on New York streets in the 1970s – an intentional mode of presentation intended to be viewed by as wide an audience as possible. Her messages span a range of mediums, from marble carving and t-shirts, to posters and light projections. LED signs such as Blue Blue evoke advertising and financial market displays, aligning with forms of mass-messaging. In doing so, Holzer harnesses this medium to showcase her captivating written words which examine the interplay between personal and shared experience.
“It is her attunement to the subtle balance between the aesthetic demands of form and the intellectual rigour required by the texts that make her work outstanding in the linguistic tradition of contemporary art.”
—Jörg SchellmannProvenance
Personal copy of the publisher and part of the Archive of Edition Schellmann since time of publication
Literature
Jörg Schellmann, ed., Forty Are Better Than One, Munich/New York, 2009, pp. 158-159
ars publicata, Jenny Holzer Editions, 2003.01 [3]Catalogue Essay
I DO NOT HEAR
YOUR HAND
ON THE LATCH.
I WAKE TO
YOU IN MY BED
YOUR BACK AGAINST
THE WALL.
YOU ARE
MY RIB
HEADBOARD.
I KNOW YOUR SMELL.
THERE IS NO
WORK FOR MY EYES.
HALF AWARE
I FEEL
YOUR HAND MOVE
AND THE PAIN
IS YOUR SIGNATURE
AND THE START.
WE ARE NO FIT.
MY MOUTH
PROVIDES COMFORT
FOR US
BUT THE MILK
IS NO MILK
THE NIPPLE NO BREAST
THE BREASTS NOT MINE.
MY PUZZLE STILL
I AM AN INFANT
AND YOU ARE NOT
MY MOTHER.
I ASK THE
RUG ON THE STAIR
INTRICATE PATTERN
HOLD THE SOUND.
THERE IS BLOOD
AND MORE BLOOD.
THERE IS SHIT
IN THE BLOOD.
THIS IS NOT
FEEDING TIME.
I FIND MY SKIN
A COVER OF SENSE
THE ORDAINED EDGE
BUT MY SKIN FAILS.
I GAPE
FULL OF YOU
NOT TAKEN ELSEWHERE.
YOU LOCK AND
CONVULSE THEN
EASE NEAR ME.
I NEVER QUIET
I AM AROUSED
ALL THE TIME NOW.
I WORK THE PAUSE IN THE NIGHT
WHEN NO
WOMEN GO ABOUT
AND NO
WOMEN COME
WHEN CALLED.
I EXALT IN MY
SKILL IN THE SHADE
EYELESS BABY TRICKS
TONGUE CURLED
AROUND
ALL SWEET BREATH
AND I
SHOW YOU THIS NOW
AND KEEP IT
FOR LATER.
MY ROOM
HAS FOUR DOORS
NOT ALL CLOSED.
THE ROOM HAS
THREE WINDOWS
SHUT AND
A BLIND CLOSET.
HERE IS RUSTY WATER
TO CLEAN ME
WELL ENOUGH
TO GIVE BACK
TO PEOPLE.
I AM
WHERE BONES FALL
AFTER EATING.
BEFORE YOU DIE
I SEE YOUR BODY
ON A BED
IN THE LIGHT.
YOUR SHIRT IS OPEN
A SUITOR’S BOAST
YOUR CHEST
ADMITTING DEVOTION.
I HAD NOT
EXPECTED
A CLAIM FROM
A DYING MAN.
YOU SURPRISE ME
DEAD
BEFORE I AM.
WHEN YOU COME
ALONG BY NIGHT
TO WATCH
MY OWN GIRL
I LOVE HER MORE
AND SEND YOU HOME.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.
Works from the Archive of Edition Schellmann to benefit the Ars Publicata Project
52
Blue Blue
2004
Electronic LED sign with blue diodes and anodized aluminium housing.
41.9 x 4.8 x 1.2 cm (16 1/2 x 1 7/8 x 1/2 in.)
Signed in black felt-tip pen and numbered 4/20 (printed) on the label affixed to the reverse (there were also 5 artist's proofs), published by Edition Schellmann, Munich and New York.
Estimate
£8,000 - 12,000 ‡
Sold for £10,160
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Evening & Day Editions
London Auction 17 - 18 January 2024
258
This lot is no longer available.
