Leon Golub and Jenny Holzer

“I wouldn’t have been able to proceed without the education offered by Leon Golub and Nancy Spero.”

—Jenny Holzer, 2023

The current exhibition is of works by Leon Golub and Jenny Holzer. While vastly different in initial visual aesthetic, both artists use friction and challenge the status quo, not by pointing a finger, but by asking questions and asking viewers to do the same.

The works by Holzer in the show are cast aluminum plaques utilizing her “Survival” text series. “Survival,” is a cautionary series whose sentences instruct and inform while questioning the ways individuals respond to their political, social, physical, psychological, and personal environments. The tone of “Survival” is more urgent that that of the prior series, “Living.” Survival was the first of Holzer’s text series to be written especially for electronic signs; the sentences are short and pointed so as to be easily accessible to passersby. The artist soon thereafter began presenting her “Survival” on cast metal plaques. These plaques mimic the permanent labels that appear on historic buildings, taking advantage of the authority of this familiar format to surprise readers with warnings, directions, and quiet observations.

The works of Golub’s included are rare early examples of etchings and lithographs that show the origins of the artist’s lifelong focus on stripping down the essence of politics to basic human concerns. He distills the imagery of power as displayed in, through, and with gesture, thus tying abuses of power to the body and to personal expression at times combined with cultural mythology. Born in Chicago, Golub (1922–2004) occupies a singular position in the history of mid- to late 20th-century art. His devotion to the figure, his embrace of expressionism, his fusion of modern and classical sources, and his commitment to social justice distinguish his practice as an artist.

“Despite the apparent pessimism or negativity of the subject matter in the very reportage, in the very reporting of all this, there is retained a residual optimism in the very freedom to tell, that is to make and exhibit.”

—Leon Golub, 1996