Red Yellow Looming, 2004, Copyrights

After Holzer first used the LED technique to make her texts public in 1982, it became the principal medium of her art. One of the works shown here, Red Yellow Looming, is one of Holzer's most challenging LED pieces, an autonomous, agitated, and brightly illuminated sculpture with a definite "painterly" effect. The texts employed are released U.S. government documents, including excerpts from speeches and public debates about topics such as oil, the international arms trade, and the post-9/11 "war on terror," from the terms of presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Clinton. Couched in dry, non-emotional language, the true import of these statements is suddenly made evident in Holzer's overwhelming composition.