152 Quotes by Jenny Holzer

So much of art-making is about reducing things to the essentials, so I don't feel particularly crippled by this. I don't want it to look natural because then I would be making a documentary film.

I'd paint long strips of canvas and abandon them on the beach, or put bread out in geometric patterns for the pigeons downtown. I wanted people to find something nice and intriguing to puzzle over. Then I'd go back to see if the things were still there, or if anyone would notice.

I began to see that the short texts I was writing were poster material.

Usually going places makes me feel optimistic. And I'm a hillbilly, so heading to the countryside made sense a number of ways.

Well, I think in trying to make life seem real enough that one is moved to do something about the more atrocious things. By going really far afield into a completely fake world, maybe there's a chance to make things resonant somehow - or in this case, truly terrifying. To make it as bad as the real stuff that's happening.

I'm always trying to bring unusual content to a different audience - a non-art-world audience.

It can be kind of gruesome at times, making things alone. I don't want to be too dramatic, but it's hard. It's necessary to start most work alone.

I was hesitant to approach people. I'm socially awkward. But I was working on a number of memorials, and finally it dawned on me: These are memorials to people who wrote, so I should use their writing. That's how I started to quit.

Knowing yourself lets you understand others.