Holzer.

In the late 1970s Jenny Holzer's wry, eye-catching, and vaguely subversive "Truisms" began showing up on posters all over Manhattan. Holzer's aphorisms gained effectiveness through their stark presentation: bland typography against passionless white backgrounds. By juxtaposing Truisms that were deliberately contradictory — such as "Everyone's work is equally important" followed by "Exceptional people deserve special concessions" — Holzer disquieted viewers who might otherwise have read her cliches as either truth or personal propaganda. Some of her best-known texts include: "Abuse of power should come as no surprise"; "Murder has its sexual side"; and "Romantic love was invented to manipulate women." By 1982 these and other Truisms were appearing in major gallery shows, and by middecade they were adorning T-shirts and other products. Holzer moved on from handbills to wall plaques, then finally to electronic display boards. A 1982 display on the Spectacolor...