Jenny Holzer - Edition Schellmann: Fifty Are Better Than One London Thursday, June 6, 2019 | Phillips

Create your first list.

Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.

  • Literature

    Jörg Schellmann, ed., Forty Are Better Than One, Munich/New York, 2009, pp. 158-159

  • Catalogue Essay

    SURVIVAL, 1983-85

    YOU ARE TRAPPED ON THE EARTH SO YOU WILL EXPLODE.
    WHAT URGE WILL SAVE US NOW THAT SEX WON'T?
    PUT FOOD OUT IN THE SAME PLACE EVERY DAY AND TALK TO THE PEOPLE WHO COME TO EAT AND ORGANIZE THEM.
    SAVOR KINDNESS BECAUSE CRUELTY IS ALWAYS POSSIBLE LATER.
    DANCE ON DOWN TO THE GOVERNMENT AND TELL THEM YOU'RE EAGER TO RULE BECAUSE YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU.
    THE BREAKDOWN COMES WHEN YOU STOP CONTROLLING YOURSELF AND WANT THE RELEASE OF A BLOODBATH.
    SPIT ALL OVER SOMEONE WITH A MOUTHFUL OF MILK IF YOU WANT TO FIND OUT SOMETHING ABOUT HIS PERSONALITY FAST.
    MOTHERS WITH REASONS TO SOB SHOULD DO IT IN GROUPS IN PUBLIC AND WAIT FOR OFFERS.
    OUTER SPACE IS WHERE YOU DISCOVER WONDER, WHERE YOU FIGHT AND NEVER HURT EARTH. IF YOU STOP BELIEVING THIS, YOUR MOOD TURNS UGLY.
    DIE FAST AND QUIET WHEN THEY INTERROGATE YOU OR LIVE SO LONG THAT THEY ARE ASHAMED TO HURT YOU ANYMORE.
    TRUST VISIONS THAT DON'T FEATURE BUCKETS OF BLOOD.
    IN A DREAM YOU SAW A WAY TO SURVIVE AND YOU WERE FULL OF JOY.
    IF YOU'RE CONSIDERED USELESS NO ONE WILL FEED YOU ANYMORE.
    WHEN YOU EXPECT FAIRPLAY YOU CREATE AN INFECTIOUS BUBBLE OF MADNESS AROUND YOU.
    YOU ARE SO COMPLEX THAT YOU DON'T ALWAYS RESPOND TO DANGER.
    MEN DON'T PROTECT YOU ANYMORE.
    WITH ALL THE HOLES IN YOU ALREADY THERE'S NO REASON TO DEFINE THE OUTSIDE ENVIRONMENT AS ALIEN.
    WHEN SOMEONE BEATS YOU WITH A FLASHLIGHT YOU MAKE LIGHT SHINE IN ALL DIRECTIONS.
    FINDING EXTREME PLEASURE WILL MAKE YOU A BETTER PERSON IF YOU'RE CAREFUL ABOUT WHAT THRILLS YOU.
    USE A STUN GUN WHEN THE PERSON COMING AT YOU HAS A GOOD EXCUSE.
    IT IS IN YOUR SELF-INTEREST TO FIND AWAY TO BE VERY TENDER.
    THE BEGINNING OF THEW AR WILL BE SECRET.
    THE CONVERSATION ALWAYS TURNS TO LIVING LONG ENOUGH TO HAVE FUN.
    WHAT COUNTRY SHOULD YOU ADOPT IF YOU HATE POOR PEOPLE?
    USE WHAT IS DOMINANT IN A CULTURE TO CHANGE IT QUICKLY.
    PROTECT ME FROM WHAT I WANT.
    YOU ARE CAUGHT THINKING ABOUT KILLING ANYONE YOU WANT.
    IT'S HARD TO KNOW IF YOU'RE CRAZY IF YOU FEEL YOU'RE IN DANGER ALL THE TIME NOW.
    YOU CAN'T REACH THE PEOPLE WHO CAN KILL YOU ANY TIME SO YOU HAVE TO GO HOME AND THINK ABOUT WHAT TO DO.
    THE FUTURE IS STUPID.
    HIDE UNDERWATER OR ANYWHERE SO UNDISTURBED YOU FEEL THE JERK OF PLEASURE WHEN AN IDEA COMES.
    SOMEONE ELSE'S BODY IS A PLACE FOR YOUR MIND TO GO.
    WHEN THERE IS NO SAFE PLACE TO SLEEP YOU'RE TIRED FROM WALKING ALL DAY AND EXHAUSTED FROM THE NIGHT BECAUSE IT'S TWICE AS DANGEROUS THEN.
    IT'S EASY TO GET MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ON EVERY CONTINENT TO PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO EATING AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY.
    GO WHERE PEOPLE SLEEP AND SEE IF THEY'RE SAFE.
    HANDS ON YOUR BREAST CAN KEEP YOUR HEART BEATING.
    TURN SOFT AND LOVELY ANY TIME YOU HAVE A CHANCE.
    IT IS FUN TO WALK CARELESSLY IN A DEATH ZONE.
    YOU LIVE THE SURPRISE RESULTS OF OLD PLANS.
    LET YOUR HAND WANDER ON FLESH TO MAKE POSSIBILITY MULTIPLY.
    IT IS EMBARRASSING TO BE CAUGHT AND KILLED FOR STUPID REASONS.
    SHOOT INTO INFINITE SPACE TO HIT A TARGET IN TIME AND CALL IT INEVITABLE.
    YOU HOVER NEAR LOVELY UNCONSCIOUS LIFE FORMS THAT OFFER NO IMMEDIATE RESISTANCE.
    PEOPLE LOOK LIKE THEY ARE DANCING BEFORE THEY LOVE.
    BODIES LIE IN THE BRIGHT GRASS AND SOME ARE MURDERED AND SOME ARE PICNICKING.
    SILLY HOLES IN PEOPLE ARE FOR BREEDING OR FROM SHOOTING.
    YOUR MODERN FACE SCANS THE SURPRISE ENDING.

  • 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. 

    View More Works

86

Green Survival

2004
Electronic LED sign with green diodes and anodized aluminium housing.
41.8 x 4.9 x 1.3 cm (16 1/2 x 1 7/8 x 0 1/2 in.)
Signed in black felt-tip pen and numbered 19/20 (printed) on a label affixed to the reverse (there were also 5 artist's proofs), published by Edition Schellmann, Munich and New York.

Estimate
£10,000 - 15,000 

Sold for £8,750

Contact Specialist

Anne Schneider-Wilson

Head of Sale, Senior Specialist 
London
+44 207 4042

Edition Schellmann: Fifty Are Better Than One

London Auction 6 June 2019