Jenny Holzer Response

     I personally really enjoyed reading and viewing Jenny Holzer’s work as I had encounters with Aphorisms from a quite early age.  Around the age of 10 I found a book my parents had that was in Russian and the title translates to Women are Capable of…Everything. It was a collection of aphorisms about women and friendships, fashion, diet, and work. As I started to read I found the book hilarious. There were many different sayings that were so true about simple everyday tasks and events and at the same time were put in a comical phrase. Thinking nothing of it then, now the concept makes a whole lot more sense in terms of the meanings that these phrases have. Before, I saw it as a list of sort of funny epiphanies, but really it requires creativity and understanding to come up with an aphorism, or a truism.

     I always have been fascinated by clever quotes and many times would read through a list of them, kind of like what is found on the website we had to view. They just make so much sense and a lot can be learned or inferred from as little as three words. Similarly, when it comes to aphorism, it amazes me how much can be said in a terse phrase. This reminds me of the saying, “Less is more.” As so much meaning can be put in just a few words many times it is what is needed to understand something that previously had made no sense.

     I had included a picture of the book I was referring to. Might just start skimming through it again.