DIY residency

The main focus of her work is the delivery of words and ideas in public spaces.

https://unitlondon.com/2022-08-23/jenny-holzer-art-and-ideas/

“Renowned for their use of language, Holzer’s artworks deploy text to spark debate and draw attention to socio-political issues. Words are central to the artist’s work, whether they are carved into a stone bench or glimmering on an electronic sign. The public nature of Holzer’s installation pieces aims to present messages in ways that reach people in everyday places, outside the realms of traditional art spaces such as museums and galleries. For Holzer, it is crucial that her art exists in people’s day to day lives. She states: “I used language because I wanted to offer content that people – not necessarily art people – could understand.” Holzer’s texts frequently mirror the tone of voice used by news outlets, advertising and other mass media, encouraging us to reconsider the messages that constantly bombard us.”

https://www.theartstory.org/artist/holzer-jenny/

https://www.artistcloseup.com/blog/the-power-of-words-jenny-holzer

Criticism of her work:
https://artspiel.org/jenny-holzers-hypocrisy/

“Her reluctance to take a clear authorial stance ultimately neuters the subversive potential of her language. So, while both practices emerge from a shared impulse to disrupt the dominant power structures, Haacke’s incisive investigations prove far more courageous and effective in exposing the oppressive forces, while Holzer’s compromised approach lacks the ability to promote meaningful change.”

“What Holzer does is expose her viewers to an implied critique; it has the form of one but not the content because it is without subject or self-reflexivity. By disconnecting herself from an overarching critique of art’s relationship to power and ideology under late capitalism, what she has done is place that responsibility on her various audiences, some of whom are incidental and can’t distinguish her work from an advertising campaign. This presentation of disembodied statements without a clear authorial voice or overarching narrative reflects neoliberalism’s valuing of subjectivism over collective meaning-making that erodes public discourse and the principles of collective welfare. Given these limitations, Holzer’s work seemingly exploits socio-political issues in a way that may be seen as opportunistic or illusionistic — as such, because she never takes a position, her work will never offend.”

“if we set aside the claims made by Holzer institutional supporters who claim her work and public presentation convey critical socio-political commentaries against power structures, what remains is a body of work that fails to achieve its purported goal of using art as a vehicle for meaningful social change. If judged objectively, independent of the articles and press releases that reiterate the artist’s stated intent, Holzer’s practice when it comes to the economy of power (politics) becomes a hollow exercise in presenting in the public decontextualized inferences that are by analogy only tenuously connected to a political critique.”

• Fix the grids directly to the wall.
• 20 grids in total, 5X4
• Each grid is A5 format
• Fix to wall using little magnets – tape one on the wall, and then place one on top of the work – use neodymium magnets

For these works my main influences are:

• Jenny Holzer – her statements stuck on walls
• Cristina Daura – illustrations, surrealism
• Hastings & Quinlan – narrative compositions, political

In terms of the Clutter Show, I have been struggling with trying to find a suitable format for a gallery show. I have considered arranging the grids in a frame and hanging on a wall. But it feels complicated getting the framing done, and how it affects the work itself – somehow it seems against the feeling of the work.

I often think the grids would best exist as social media postings, especially considering their immediacy. I try to post them on SM often but they get little to no response, so maybe I’m wrong about this.

I think – as with Jenny Holzer – in a gallery context they are best displayed by sticking to a wall, in a matrix layout. This way they should look good together – especially if they each share the same dimensions – and the colour coding will hopefully become apparent.

The grids are unfiltered, randomised brain dumps and rambling thoughts.

Disorder often stimulates us with new ideas and creative ways of doing things.

They are messy, and I feel like I should try to make some order from this, and so the process is chaos -> order.

Brian Eno has spoken about his use of cards (in music composition), containing instructions or rules, to help structure these rambling thoughts, and compose something interesting.

So I feel I should be structuring the grids into something more ordered.

Most of my grid drawings follow themes, and these repeat within grids.

To try to structure the grids I’ve come up with a colour coding system, so I use a different colour palette depending on the theme. This way a colour structure appears within the grids, and this becomes useful – and interesting – when many grids are displayed together, which is what I’m planning to do for the Clutter show.

Colour code:

1. Trees & buildings – silver, grey, black, blue
2. Concepts – gold, yellows, black, ochres
3. People – red, pinks, black, purples
4. Nature – green, light green, black, blue
5. Slogans/ opinions – black, grey
6. Politics – greys, blue
7. Diaristic – greys
8. Text – black, grey
9. Textures – grey
10. Body – reds
11. Thoughts & feelings – yellow, grey
12. Philosophy – brown & black
13. Food and meals – black, grey

I also don’t think the grids are messy random journals, I think they are actually the finished work. I like to make one in a day, and so it’s a reflection or snapshot of that moment and my emotional state, and the things in my head. Finishing one gives me a sense of completeness.

So they work as individual items, but using this colour coding system, they can also work as part of a bigger structure, though in different ways to how they work individually.