Access a slow-looking exercise of this work.

Transcript
Narrator: This painting by Jenny Holzer from 2019 is titled "26." On rectangular paper, measuring about 3 feet tall by just over 2 feet wide, are markings of graphite and dark blue watercolor.

The most prominent in the composition is the blue watercolor, painted in thin, horizontal lines against the ivory paper. The lines run through the right quarter of the paper until they seem to spill off its right edge. The lines are slightly irregular in length, some beginning deeper into the interior of the composition than others. A small circular daub marks the start of each line, as if paint from the brush leaked out of its bristles as it touched the page, or as if this watercolor was dripped downwards at a different angle, gathering a thick drop at its terminus and drying.

This stack of blue lines is contained to the right side of the composition but is placed in its vertical center, with the ivory white paper dominating above and below. The lines vary from deep inky blue to a lighter and brighter cobalt blue where the watercolor pigment seems to be diluted, allowing the ivory paper to show through. The lines are organic, as if painted by pulling loosely or dripping. Additional scribbles, tight and dark, in the same blue tones appear like the frenzied movement with a leaking pen. A layer of white paint on top is partially scratched away, revealing other messy smudges and washes of lighter blue.

The remainder of the composition is dominated by the open expanse of ivory paper, though some thin lines travel through these sections in dark inky blue. The left side of the composition roughly mirrors the right. On the left, however, there are fewer lines, and they are more sparsely arranged. They are also neater, clear of substantial scribbles, smudges, or washes. Similarly, at the top of the composition, sparse lines run horizontally over the ivory paper. Some of these lines run parallel to each other and then make a 90 degree turn, trailing down and off the page. Across the whole composition, hints of more faint blue lines streak over the page.

The ivory center of the composition is largely absent of blue watercolor. Here, about thirty-five thinly outlined graphite rectangles are arranged horizontally in rows one above the other. Each horizontal row is split in two, roughly in their centers, so together the stacked rows form two side-by-side left-aligned columns. At the center top and center bottom of the two columns sits a similar horizontal rectangle. From the left and right edges of the composition, the blue horizontal watercolor lines roughly align with the edges of the graphite rectangles.

In a few places, small letters or words appear between the outlined rectangles. These hint that this section of the composition is in fact two columns of text, with the words almost entirely blocked by the outlined rectangles, as if redacted. Some of the unredacted words read: “TOP SECRET” “ATTRIBUTION IS A BEAR” and “PROPERTY OF THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.” At bottom right, the number 26 is written or traced in graphite, seeming to indicate a page number.

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