Holzer says, “I like to be absolutely out of view and out of earshot. I don’t sign my work because I think that would diminish its effectiveness.”Discuss Holzer’s statement.How does Holzer’s appropriation of text and collaboration with writers serve this objective?

I think Holzer has a point that her work is more effective when people don’t know who wrote it. It almost makes it seem like this undisputable truth. It reminds me of all the famous quotes that no one remembers who wrote them and they all just say ‘anonymous.’ Her use of other people’s text takes her hand even more out of the work. She isn’t making these statements, she’s just choosing that you need to see them.

By not signing her work Holzer is allowing her pieces to be free of any bias that she could project onto the viewer. If she was to sign her pieces it would cause the viewer to become preoccupied by who Holzer is rather that what her work is trying to convey. Also by not using any text that she writes herself she further distances herself from her work. This allows the viewer to be subjective about the piece and take into account their own life experiences and bias when analyzing her work.This allows the work can take on different meanings for different people.

The whole point of Holzer artwork is to get the viewers to think and reflect about the meaning of the words that she is presenting. Holzer removes her image from the equation so that her name does not interefere with this objective. Most of the time Holzer does not even use her own words. Instead, she pulls certain content from the literary work of others that she thinks is important for people to see. I believe that Holzer’s sense of accomplishment comes from presenting these meaningful selections in a new light so that people view them from a different perspective. The viewers of Holzer’s work she be thinking “Why was this done?” not “Who did this?”

i think that as a society, we really value a work more for who did it rather than what it is about.”oh its a Picasso, its the greatest thing ever painted…” type of thing. i think Holzer really wants the focus of her work to be the text and what it is the text is trying to get across. its almost as if she wants to be completely seperated from the work all together and allow the words to do their job….its as if she acts as a facilitator to the words.

Words have great mean on thier own just look in a dictanary. Every word has meaning and each word is used for a reason. Words are something everyone can understand because each word has its own meaning and use in a sentence.
If holzer was to put her name on her work her name would them become to work. This is because her works are on the written form so her name on her art would be included in the art. With holzer name not on her work it makes the words stand out more and more meaningfull because the statements being made without a name on it make people who look upon feel like they themselves are stating it.

yes it does serve the objective because the art reflects the meaning of the words.

Holzer wants the viewer to have a completely unbiased experience while taking in her work and thinking about it. We tend to place value on artworks just by knowing who it is. By signing the piece, I believe she thinks that will be taken in to the overall experience. Plus, she already works with text as it is. Her signature might be mistaken for part of the art work and distract you from what it is she is trying to say, and if she doesn’t use text to sign her name but instead a symbol, it would distract from the point of using text all together.

Not to mention it seems she wants herself to be as distant from the piece as possible in that there are no traces of her personally in it, but instead the style of the piece is what makes you think of her. Holzer doesn’t even use her own words in making these projects. She uses the words of other writers, who themselves create pieces by using words. She has blurred the line between art and writing.

I agree, that any recognition given to the work itself in the space and time, would take away from the main focus of what she is trying to communicate.
The texts function as comments on that environment they fit into. If the text was decorative, a specific color, font, or a specific size, it would greatly change the meaning/emotion of a statement based on visual ascetics alone. The same would happen if Jenny Holzer were to sign her name on her work. It would make the statements more personal to the viewer whether the viewer knows who Jenny Holzer is or not. This isn’t what Holzer wants.