Jenny Holzer
The Venice Installation
Gallery D
Opening June 19th, 2008
EVO Gallery
554 South Guadalupe Street
Santa Fe, NM 87501
505-982-4610
director@evogallery.org
http://www.evogallery.org
EVO Gallery is pleased to offer an iconic installation by Jenny Holzer. Gallery D was included in the United States Pavilion at the 1990 Venice Biennale, for which Holzer was awarded the Leone d’Oro (Golden Lion prize) for best pavilion. She was the first woman artist to be so honored.
The Gallery D installation is comprised of alternating red and white Italian marble tiles arranged in a diamond pattern with inscriptions from Holzer’s Truisms, her best known text, carved into the red marble tiles. The text areas are illuminated by pin spotlights. Three marble benches run the length of three walls, with text from Holzer’s Inflammatory Essays carved on the top of each bench. For the global audience attending the Biennale, Holzer created the texts in five languages: German, French, Italian, Spanish and English. Her major themes – sex, death, and war – are explored with unflinching directness in this acclaimed installation.
In contrast to Holzer’s well known use of LED signs, Gallery D employs the centuries old art of stone carving to convey the text with a classical austerity that is also brilliant and sensual in the use of materials.