Visual Treats presents ' ART OUTSIDE WALLS ' / Day 1 -- JENNY HOLZER

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Peeps,

Frequently no one leaves entirely satisfied.  Perhaps this the result of simply not knowing.  If your family is similar to mine, after Thanksgiving gluttony and cleanup, the debate invariably starts:  do we pursue high culture (and art) at the museum, or should we simply indulge our more base desires, and head for the mall and streets to indulge in window-gazing, bargain-shopping, and people watching.  Another set of cuff-links or wool slacks nabbed at holiday markdowns is always fun, yet never entirely satisfying when I scan the weekend papers and internally chastise myself for having ignored the wide selection of wonderful art-exhibitions at The National Gallery of Art, The Sackler Gallery, and The Hirshhorn Museum.  Sometimes in the contest of wills between various factions of the family, where young adults need to expend energy (and reassert their independence, why?), and the more culturally inclined seek to expose the uninitiated to the finer things of life, one group or the other feels put-on by any decision made.  If anyone had been smart, or level-headed, in these tireless debates and endless discussions about high vs low, we could have sought the on-site installations of artists who prefer to exhibit outside the walls of galleries or art-spaces.  Chancing upon Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, or Felix Gonzalez-Torres, while buoyed by waves of urban dwellers and the cries of side-walk vendors hawking knock-off Chanel bags, allows one to experience a certain realization that life is never entirely one or the other.  Even here in the heart of humankind's urban sprawl and moral decay, images of hope, truth, and beauty persist.


Please enjoy this week's peep-show showcasing ' ART OUTSIDE WALLS.' 


Sincerely,
Shane






NOTE:  


Jenny Holzer, an American artist, Is famous for her short statement, formerly called 'truisms'. Some are common myths while others are just phrases on random subjects in the form of slogans.  The sayings include:  'MONEY CREATES TASTE,' 'FREEDOM IS A LUXURY NOT A NECESSITY,' and ' A LOT OF PROFESSIONALS ARE CRACKPOTS.'  her medium, whether formulated as a T-shirt, as a plaque, or as a LED sign, always is writing, and the public dimension is integral to the delivery of her work.  Starting in the late 1970's with the posters that Jenny Holzer pasted on buildings in New York City, and up to her recent xenon projections on landscape and architecture, her practice has rivaled ignorance and violence with humor, kindness, and moral courage.


Often Holzer's work presents both explicit content and minimalist aesthetics that make profound statements about the world of advertising and consumer society today.  By presenting an assemblage of phrases that mimic advertising slogans through vehicles commonly used in advertising, such as electric billboards, coffee-mugs, and commercials on cable and network television, Holzer questions what our eyes can see and what we can't see in media, [and] whether consumers today have any real control over the information that is provided to them.
                                                                                                                                                                                             (designboom news)