‘ABUSE OF POWER COMES AS NO SURPRISE’ is one of Jenny Holzer’s most famous ‘Truisms’ (a series of short quotes from academic texts she started collecting in the late 70s) and one that comes readily to mind in her current exhibition at Hauser & Wirth Gallery. Lining the walls and scattered on the floor are versions of ‘curse tablets’ popular in ancient Greece and Rome, small metal plates inscribed with ill wishes toward a rival. Holzer’s contemporary versions, printed on lead and copper, then distressed, bear tweets from Donald Trump and Q, founder of QAnon that appear to extend the tablet tradition into the present day. (On view in Chelsea through Oct 22nd).
