Jenny Holzer © Jenny Holzer ARS, NY and DACS, London 2020. Photo: Nanda Lanfranco

ALL THINGS ARE DELICATELY INTERCONNECTED

19 April 2020

A collaboration with Jenny Holzer for the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day

A Limited-Edition Benefit Print features one of the artist's iconic ‘Truisms’, relaying a timely message that speaks to the global health and environmental crises we are navigating today.

This project is part of our #artforbetter initiative through which the gallery will provide charitable support in response to both global and local causes. Acknowledging this important landmark in the history of Earth Day and the current situation in which many of us are isolated, 100% of sales proceeds will go to charitable partners, split equally between the conservation initiative Art for Acres and the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for the World Health Organization.

‘Every day is Earth Day’—Jenny Holzer

The artist’s contribution for Earth Day 2020 continues a deep-rooted tradition linking printmaking and environmental activism: in 1970, Robert Rauschenberg created the first graphic image to support the first national awareness campaign for Earth Day in the United States.

For Holzer, print and activism have been core pillars of an artistic practice spanning 40 years. Beginning in the 1970s with posters wheat-pasted throughout New York City, her oeuvre continues to provoke public debate and illuminate social and political injustice through language and media. Her texts have been emblazoned on T-shirts, carved in stone, painted on canvas, programmed into LED signs, and luminously projected onto buildings and landscapes.

The text selected for the print, ‘ALL THINGS ARE DELICATELY INTERCONNECTED’, has been utilized in Holzer’s work since the late 1970s and early 1980s, when her 'Truisms' were seen on an electronic signboard above Times Square.

Jenny Holzer, from ‘Truisms’ (1977–79), 1986. Installation: In Other Words, Dupont Circle, Washington, DC, 1986 © 1986 Jenny Holzer, member Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Jenny Holzer, from ‘Truisms’, 1977–79, 2017. Yokohama Triennale, Yokohama, Japan, 2017 © 2017 Jenny Holzer, member Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

The new print, which will be unveiled on Earth Day, 22 April 2020, has been created during this period of essential lockdown subsequent to the COVID-19 outbreak by Powerhouse Arts, a not-for-profit based in Brooklyn.

Luther Davis, the Printshop Director at Powerhouse Arts, enlisted the help of fellow printmaker Leslie Diuguid, who was able to create the print from her home studio, Du-Good Press. On Earth Day 2020, this particular ‘Truism’ contemplates the pressing demands of a global pandemic as well as the continuing climate crisis.

Through her distinctive use of language, Holzer’s work continues to wield art as a powerful force for reflection and change.

Leslie Diuguid working on the print ‘ALL THINGS ARE DELICATELY INTERCONNECTED’ from her home studio in Brookyln, 2020. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth

About Powerhouse Arts Powerhouse Arts is a not-for-profit based in Gowanus and Red Hook, Brooklyn, established to create a robust platform for production and employment in the arts. Programming includes education, employment and public engagement to increase access and opportunity for participation in the arts for all New Yorkers.

Charity Beneficiaries Under the umbrella of our new global philanthropic initiative #artforbetter, Hauser & Wirth and Jenny Holzer will donate the sales proceeds of the print to two causes: the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for the World Health Organization and Art for Acres.

Art for Acres Art for Acres is an initiative for artists, gallerists and collectors with a mission to support large-scale land conservation. To date, Art for Acres has worked with a range of renowned contemporary artists, including George Condo, Rashid Johnson and Mika Rottenberg. Since receiving its first support from the philanthropist, arts patron and President Emerita of the Museum of Modern Art, Agnes Gund, the initiative has raised US $36 million from donations and matching funds to make a positive impact on climate, biodiversity and irreplaceable ecosystems.

– To learn more about conservation practices, visit: https://www.globalwildlife.org/ For more information or to conserve acreage, contact Art for Acres. To learn more about the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund through the World Health Organization please visit: https://covid19responsefund.org/