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.
Jenny HolzerUsually going places makes me feel optimistic. And I'm a hillbilly, so heading to the countryside made sense a number of ways.
Jenny HolzerThe desperate things seem to require attention, the lovely things seem to elicit celebration. If I had to choose, I would go to the awful in the hope that doing something could yield a happier result.
Jenny HolzerThe epiphany for me was that I wasnt a writer, and I had to do something with these texts. I put them in the streets as posters.
Jenny HolzerI'm always trying to bring unusual content to a different audience - a non-art-world audience.
Jenny HolzerTHERE IS A PERIOD WHEN IT IS CLEAR THAT YOU HAVE GONE WRONG BUT YOU CONTINUE. SOMETIMES THERE IS A LUXURIOUS AMOUNT OF TIME BEFORE ANYTHING BAD HAPPENS.
Jenny HolzerI used language because I wanted to offer content that people - not necessarily art people - could understand.
Jenny HolzerWell, 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.
Jenny HolzerHow do you resign yourself to something that will never be? You stop wanting just that thing. You go numb. Or you kill the agent of desire.
Jenny HolzerIt's important to keep life simple, and if I'm traveling, I only can do a couple of things, and those are the things that I'm meant to be doing.
Jenny HolzerI think of a piece, and then people who are competent fabricate it. But lately I've started finger painting, which probably should be a joke but isn't!
Jenny Holzer