Jenny Holzer
PROTECT ME FROM WHAT I WANT: The Multiples and Editioned Works of Jenny Holzer at Printed Matter, Inc.
July 18 – September 30, 2002
Printed Matter, Inc.
535 West 22nd Street
New York, NY 10011
www.printedmatter.org
Opening: Thursday, July 18, 6 – 8 PM
Printed Matter, Inc.
Printed Matter is very pleased to announce the opening of a new exhibition, “Protect Me From What I Want: the Multiples and Editioned Works of Jenny Holzer.” Running from July 18 through September 31, the exhibition features an abundance of works for sale, including postcards, posters, T-shirts, caps, L.E.D. signs and ephemera.
“Protect Me From What I Want: the Multiples and Editioned Works of Jenny Holzer” focuses on Holzer’s inexpensive multiples and editions within the broader context of her long-term engagement with different forms of public art. A consideration of public space, address and audience have been central aspects of Holzer’s work, from anonymous street posters and stickers, to massive, electronic billboards in such public spaces as Times Square, airport baggage claims, and baseball parks.
Holzer’s multiples – T-shirts, caps, postcards, rubberstamps, and other ordinary objects emblazoned with her text pieces – constitute another set of relationships to audience, public space and message. On one hand, they are commodities circulating within the marketplace (often with texts that question and challenge the very precepts of that market and its ideological foundations); on the other hand they circulate via a random diffusion through public, private, pedestrian and other spaces. In presenting “Protect Me From What I Want: the Multiples and Editioned Works of Jenny Holzer,” Printed Matter will serve as a hub for these processes of distribution.
One of Holzer’s earliest solo shows (1979) was at Printed Matter’s old space on Lispenard Street, where she displayed her Truisms series in our storefront windows. Holzer’s multiples share a close affinity to Printed Matter’s mission: to facilitate the distribution, understanding and appreciation of artists’ books and related publications by artists. Indeed, artists’ publications, like Holzer’s multiples, construct a circuitous public space as they are bought and sold, given as gifts, browsed and scrutinized, shelved or displayed, and even discarded.
Holzer first used “Protect Me From What I Want” in 1983 as part of her “Survival” series. In a time of accelerated market forces and their resulting international political dramas, this comment, which casts identity and desire in the light of the commodity spectacle, seems more timely than ever.
Printed Matter is located at 535 West 22nd Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues.
A complete checklist for the exhibition will be posted to Printed Matter’s website on July 18, 2002.
For additional information, please contact Max Schumann, Manager, Printed Matter, Inc., at (212) 925-0325
Printed Matter, Inc. is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1976 by artists and art workers with the mission to foster the appreciation, dissemination, and understanding of artists’ books and other artists’ publications.
Printed Matter has received support, in part, through grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, New York Arts Recovery Fund, Art for Art’s Sake, The New York Community Trust, Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation, The Roy and Niuta Titus Foundation, Heyday Foundation, The Kettering Family Foundation, CHS Foundation, The Cowles Charitable Trust, Philip Morris Companies Inc., Women’s Studio Workshop, Milton & Sally Avery Arts Foundation, and private foundations and individuals worldwide.
Printed Matter, Inc. is not affiliated with, nor a division of, any other non-profit origination.
David Platzker
Director
Printed Matter, Inc.
535 West 22nd Street
New York, NY 10011
212 925 0325 tel
212 925 0464 fax
