MARTIN BRIEF
Truisms (after jh)
ink on paper, 6” x 30”, 2010–ongoing
This series of drawings is based on Jenny Holzer’s Truisms. These drawings are reproductions of Holzer’s now famous sayings with one alteration: Each word is replaced by its definition. The resulting long, rambling and seemingly incoherent strings of definitions replace the succinct and powerful sayings by Holzer. The strict adherence to the dictionary definitions, normally used to provide clarity and meaning, creates confusion and chaos and ultimately empties the meaning from these statements. Paradoxically, these simple, delicate lines are simultaneously powerful truths and nonsense.
