An artist I like is Jenny Holzer. She works with text, and is probably most well-known for her LED signs in places like Times Square and Caesar's Palace with messages such as "Protect me from what I want" or "Savor kindness because cruelty is always possible later." She has an online project at http://adaweb.walkerart.org/context/artists/holzer/holzer0.html There are some pictures of her work at this site, as well as a lot of her Truisms (short sayings that are supposed to come across as societal beliefs or pieces of advice, e.g. "Raise boys and girls the same way."). At the website, you have the option of changing some of the Truisms, and my favorite new Truism that someone added is "A big piece of donut on your nose is better than a big fat cop on your ass." I have no idea which Truism that was based on. Her work is generally very public, in the street rather than a gallery, and it's presented anonymously. She tries to present them as a "voice of reason" of sorts, rather than as one person's opinion. A lot of her pieces are pretty confrontational. A friend of mine once described her to me as "very um...crass." One of her more recent pieces, Lustmord, describes a rape from the viewpoint of the victim, rapist, and an observer. Like most of her pieces, it's not clear which position she herself is in.

-Shelley