Jenny Holzer, born in New York in 1950, is a challenging artist who uses words as her medium. We have seen her work in the Guggenheim in Bilbao, and more recently at MACA, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Alicante. Hence my second painting of the month for September.

inflammatory Essays, typical of Holzer’s public works, was a series of posters created from 1979 and 1982, and displayed around New York. The statements, all presented in one hundred words and set out over twenty lines, were inflammatory and abrasive. The statements on the posters were influenced by political figures including Emma Goldman, Lenin and Mao Tse-Tung. They challenge the patriarchy of the establishment, and groups of the posters are to be found in many museums around the world including the Tate in London.

The collection at Alicante are part of Looking Back: Moving Forward, which is the second exhibition held at MACA drawing from the rich collection of Michael Jenkins and Javier Romero, and bequeathed to the people of Spanish City. The themes running through the exhibition are of post colonial challenges especially around the questions of feminism, race and gender. The mix of artists is balanced between men and women, white and coloured and many international backgrounds.