Truisms (set of 8) By Jenny Holzer 2018 Screenprint on cherrywood 10 x 15 cm Since the 1970s, Jenny Holzer has inserted language into public settings as part of her singular conceptual practice. Her installations—which have taken the form of billboards, projections, park benches, condom wrappers, and electronic signs—feature texts which range from enigmatic, koan-like phrases such as “Abuse of power comes as no surprise” to longer, more involved screeds. Her iconic “Inflammatory Essays” (1979–82), for example, meditate on violence, vulnerability, and tensions between the individual and the collective. Holzer’s work has also targeted consumerism and the language of advertising. The artist received her MFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design and has since exhibited in cities around the world, including London, New York, Los Angeles, Zürich, Hong Kong, and Berlin. She has presented at institutions including the Guggenheim Museum, the Centre Pompidou, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Neue Nationalgalerie. In 1990, Holzer became the first living American woman to represent the United States at the Venice Biennale.