Holzer Truisms - PK

I’m in love with this. At first I was wondering what was going on, then I reread the definition of truisms and found a lot of clarity. I think this is brilliant, and I love how ordered it is. Not only are they all lowercase letters, but also the sentences are all uniform in color and style, and what more, they are in alphabetical order. What I found interesting is that some of them are sort of contradictory of each other, and it made me wonder what her motivation for posting this is.

I actually found a spelling error in a few of the sentences: “don’t place to much trust in experts.” Too in “to much” is missing an “o.” I don’t think that is intentional, as I can’t really figure out how that would make sense as it is now, with the mistake. Another one is missing an “e” in “are.”

I’m also noticing a few of the phrases in the other website we were provided with about Jenny Holzer. They were used in some of her art works and I wonder whether she has used all of them at some point in time.

I think my favorite one is “stupid people shouldn’t breed.” I know it’s mean, but I agree 100% and have thought about this many times before. She’s very much pushing the boundaries with many of the statements and providing a source for discussion and possibly argument.

A lot of these could be considered controversial, or pushing the boundaries of what is accepted in our society. Holzer is making statements that are very aggressive, stating things as she sees them and not as the society would like her to. She definitely doesn’t conform to the norm; one, with the type of art she creates, and two, with the messages she sends in these art mediums.

Actually, if I had seen this website any other time I would have thought it brilliant, but never would I have said it’s art. This actually allows me to think about what art really is, and who should be the one to classify what art is supposed to be like. Holzer is really helping me open up to other forms of art through this, and I see myself being more lenient with judging art forms. A lot of these statements are challenging what I believe in, but I am surprisingly not getting upset, just keeping an open mind.

I love this picture, which is by Holzer as well, because it's another one of those thought provoking sayings. It is the realization that what you want may not exactly be good for you, just as the opposite is true, you may not want what is good for you.