Sunday, March 21, 2010

MOCA Awards Jenny Holzer with Distinguished Women in the Arts Honor

The Museum of Contemporary Art , Los Angeles (MOCA), is pleased to announce artist Jenny Holzer as the recipient of the 6th MOCA Award to Distinguished Women in the Arts. Holzer will be honored for her extraordinary talent and contributions to the arts during an exclusive award luncheon on Wednesday, April 28, 2010, at the Four Seasons Los Angeles at Beverly Hills. Hosted by one of the museum’s major support organizations, The MOCA Projects Council, this fundraiser benefits MOCA’s award-winning educational programming. Edythe Broad will present the award to Holzer and remarks will be made by MOCA Projects Council President Pamela J. Smith. The 6th MOCA Award to Distinguished Women in the Arts Luncheon is presented by BVLGARI.

“MOCA is thrilled to honor Jenny Holzer with the 6th MOCA Award to Distinguished Women in the Arts,” said MOCA Chief Executive Officer Charles E. Young. “This unique fundraising opportunity celebrates the work of a brilliant artist, who has created powerful statements of conviction and social commentary for more than three decades.”

“We hope that the community will join us in recognizing and celebrating the achievements of this accomplished and exceptional artist, and in supporting one of the leading contemporary art education programs in the United States,” said The MOCA Projects Council President Pamela J. Smith. “The focus of the Projects Council support group is MOCA Education, which has a long history of collaborating with artists and community organizations to bring the rewards and challenges of contemporary art to a broad audience. Its programs serve 30,000 students and community members each year.”

The MOCA Award to Distinguished Women in the Arts was established by The MOCA Projects Council in 1994 to recognize the many gifted women providing leadership and innovation in the visual arts, dance, music, and literature. Jenny Holzer designed the bronze plaque, which features one of the artist’s truisms: “It is in your self-interest to find a way to be very tender.” Past recipients include noted collector and patron Beatrice Gersh (1994), editor Tina Brown (1997), choreographer Twyla Tharp (1999), actress and director Anjelica Huston (2001), and artists Barbara Kruger (2001) and Yoko Ono (2003).

Holzer was born in Gallipolis, Ohio in 1950. She received a BA from Ohio University in Athens (1972); an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence (1977); and honorary doctorates from the University of Ohio (1993), the Rhode Island School of Design (2003), and New School University, New York (2005). Whether questioning consumerist impulses, describing torture, or lamenting death and disease, Jenny Holzer’s use of language provokes a response in the viewer. While her subversive work often blends in among advertisements in public space, its arresting content violates expectations. Holzer’s texts—such as the aphorisms “abuse of power comes as no surprise” and “protect me from what I want”—have appeared on posters and condoms, and as electronic LED signs and projections of xenon light. Holzer’s recent use of text ranges from silk-screened paintings of declassified government memoranda detailing prisoner abuse, to poetry and prose in a 65-foot wide wall of light in the lobby of 7 World Trade Center, New York.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

University of Ohio???

Me said...

I suppose that should read Ohio University.