Jenny Holzer – Baltic Mill 2010

Art.

My friend came to visit me from Oxford on Wednesday, so she could go and see the Jenny Holzer exhibition at the Baltic; a flour mill converted in to a contemporary art museum. Having only ever heard about Holzer from my friend, and never actually looking at her work, I was pleasntly surprise at how awesome her work is. It's very colourful, and thought provoking. LED installations are clad with moving messages. There was one installation, that reminded me of the bright coloured lights of billboards in Times Square in NYC.

One particular installation was less political than others. Though political in its own way, it seemed to be very much about love, lust and heart ache.

"I breathe you breath"

"I bite your lip".

"I shelter you"

"I smell you on my skin"

One of her particular installations had a lot of political messages about Iraq and war. I walked past this particular installation as "Situation in Iraq is difficult" scrolled across it, and it drew me in to watch it further.

I am by no means great and video making, but here is a general idea of the installation moving and my hideous attempt at stop motion without a tripod! Link

I was very impressed by her art installations, and particularly her canvases that conveyed the idea of censorship; large black handprints over what could be political documents. Even though a lot of the ideas behind her work are not something I personally have an interest in, the exhibition itself inspired me more than anything has in a very long time. Her artwork reminded me a lot of slogans on t-shirts and totes. I have seen a lot of people wearing slogan tees again lately. I remember last summer, it seemed everyone had a slogan t-shirt in the UK, and now they're slowly creeping their way back in to the shops. A lot of them are very much based around travel and touristy places like Paris and New York. But here are my selection of non-political, non touristy sloganed products. They're playful, and naive and very very cute and I want them all!

Top left-right: Same Old Chic – £465 – Ashish, Available – £145 – Anya Hindmarch, Stella – £45 – Stella McCartney for Adidas. Bottom left-right: It's All About Me – £16 – Miss Selfridge, ABC Love – £25 – Urban Outfitters, Meet Me Back At The Tent – £14 – H by Henry Holland