First appearing on cheaply-printed pieces of paper around Manhattan, Jenny Holzer’s Truisms offered small one-liners to whoever would read them. Quotes like “CATEGORIZING FEAR IS CALMING,” and “BOREDOM MAKES YOU DO CRAZY THINGS,” the type of general world observations, thought provokers, and life recommendations that  Holzer wrote. This piece had no grand intention other than to infiltrate the everyday lives of people. Later in the life of this piece, Holzer would display these quips on larger and larger mediums, culminating in a Times Square screen. Truisms is an exercise in democratizing art—while its posters have been displayed in art museums, their messages live in the streets and minds of many people that would never step foot in the art world. By putting these random texts into public spaces, Truthisms encourages dialogue through the shared act of observing. In this way every place the poster exists becomes the wall of an art gallery.