Jenny Holzer - FREEDOM IS A LUXURY NOT A NECESSITY

1996 

This is one of Jenny Holzer’s most iconic and enduring bodies of work. A striking silkscreen print with a collection of her iconic Truisms, created in 1996.

The print is signed and numbered by the artist on a custom label verso, visible though a plexiglas window. It comes from a rare edition of only 41.

First conceived in the late 1970s, the project consists of provocative, contradictory, and often unsettling one-line statements that mimic the authoritative tone of public information systems, called Truisms. 

MoMA described this process as "She hand-typed numerous 'one-liners' or "Truisms", which she has likened, partly in jest, to a "Jenny Holzer's Reader's Digest version of Western and Eastern thought." 

This edition presents dozens of these phrases,—such as “LACK OF CHARISMA CAN BE FATAL” and “FREEDOM IS A LUXURY NOT A NECESSITY”—in a crisp, uniform typeface, confronting viewers with ideas that oscillate between truth, cliché, and ideological critique. The uniformity of presentation contrasts with the emotional and intellectual tension of the content, embodying Holzer’s signature style: cool surface, radical content.

Professionally framed in an exclusive hand-made white wooden frame with Plexiglas® Optical HC, which is scratch-resistant and UV-protected. The minimal white frame emphasizes the clarity and conceptual rigor of Holzer’s text-based art.
Framed approx. 80 x 50 cm.

Jenny Holzer (b. 1950) is a leading American conceptual artist known for her bold use of language in public and private spaces. Through media ranging from LED signs and stone benches to projections and posters, Holzer has challenged systems of power, gender, and control for over four decades. Her work draws from feminist theory, politics, and poetic introspection, always urging the viewer to reexamine assumptions and question authority. She represented the United States at the Venice Biennale in 1990, where she won the prestigious Golden Lion.
Jenny Holzer’s work is held in major museum collections around the world.