ID: 700008373 Page link: http://vocab.getty.edu/page/cona/700008373	Record Type: Movable Work
Images: 1 2

Truisms (sculpture (visual works); Jenny Holzer (American conceptual artist and sculptor, born ...; 1984; Tate Modern ; T03959)

Note: Comprises a programmed electronic display sign made of metal and plastic. Like other artists of her generation, Holzer turned to the strategies of the mass media and advertising in her work. In the late 1970s, she devised nearly 300 aphorisms or slogans, which play on commonly held truths and clichés. Initially, the Truisms were infiltrated into the public arena via stickers, T-shirts and posters. Later, Holzer started using electronic displays. In 1982 she blazed these messages across a giant advertising hoarding in Times Square, New York. The Truisms are deliberately challenging, presenting a spectrum of often-contradictory opinions. Holzer hoped they would sharpen people's awareness of the 'usual baloney they are fed' in daily life.

Titles:

Truisms (preferred,C,U,RP,English-P,U,U)

Catalog Level: item

Work Types:

sculpture (visual works) [300047090] (preferred)

..... (Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Visual Works (hierarchy name), visual works (works), <visual works by material or technique>)

Classifications:

sculptures (preferred)

Creation Date: 1984

Creator Display:

Jenny Holzer (American conceptual artist and sculptor, born 1950) [preferred,VP]

artist Holzer, Jenny (American conceptual artist and sculptor, born 1950) [500047276]

Locations:

Current: Term Not Found (ULAN Candidate) (Corp. Body)

Repository Numbers: T03959

Credit Line: Presented by the Patrons of New Art through the Friends of the Tate Gallery 1985

Display Materials: Metal, light emitting diode units and plastic

	metal [300010900]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by composition>, inorganic material)

	plastic (material) [300014570]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by composition>, organic material)

	LEDs (electron tubes) [300310090]
	.......(Objects Facet, Components (hierarchy name), components (objects parts), <components by specific context>, system components, electrical system components, electron tubes, diodes)

Dimensions: Object: 169 x 1539 x 162 mm

Cultures:

American (preferred)

General Subject:

installation (preferred,isness)

nonrepresentational art

Specific Subjects:

	sign (declatory or advertising artifact) [300123013]
	.....(Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Information Forms (hierarchy name), information forms (objects), information artifacts, <information artifacts by function>, <declaratory and advertising artifacts>) (AAT)

	truisms [300417464]
	.....(Associated Concepts Facet, Associated Concepts (hierarchy name), <concepts in the arts and humanities>, <genres in literature and performing arts>, <genres for literature>) (AAT)

Provenance: Purchased by the Patrons of New Art from Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York 1985

Inscriptions: Not inscribed, but words are displayed via light-emitting diodes

List/Hierarchical Position:

..... Movable Works

.......... Movable Works by class: carvings and sculptures

Sources and Contributors:
Truisms	........ [VP]
	........ Tate Gallery [online] (1999-) accessed 8 April 2014

Subject: ....... [VP]

....................... Tate Gallery [online] (1999-) accessed 8 April 2014

Note:
English	..... [VP]
	..... Whitney Museum [online] (2009-) accessed 27 February 2018, http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/holzer-truisms-t03959