Public Artwork

It Is Difficult

Alfredo Jaar, It Is Difficult, 1997
Location:
Toronto, ON, Canada
See map: Google Maps
Artwork creator(s): 
Jaar, Alfredo
Text author(s): 
Williams, William Carlos
Installation year: 
1997
Description: 

Installation on a billboard.

Text of the artwork: 

it is difficult
   to get the news from poems
yet men die miserably every day
for lack
       of what is found
                         there

william carlos williams 1883-1963

Text theme: 
Asphodel, that Greeny Flower, poem by William Carlos Williams
Text reference: 

Asphodèle

Williams, William Carlos (1991).  Asphodèle. Paris : La Différence, p. 127
History: 

Toronto Art Gallery Metropole has placed an order for artists Alan Belcher (Toronto), Alfredo Jaar (New York/Chile), Mariko Mori (Tokyo) and Steve Reinke (Toronto) to each produce a billboard to install on the streets of Toronto

Dimensions:

Height: 
3.04m
Width: 
6.09m
Artist's biography: 
Alfredo Jaar
Author's biography: 
William Carlos Williams
Propriétaire(s): 
Art Metropole collection
Document(s): 

It Is Difficult: Ten Years

Jaar, Alfredo (1998).  It Is Difficult: Ten Years. Barcelona : Actar

Alfredo Jaar: the fire this time. Public interventions 1979-2005

Jaar, Alfredo (2005).  Alfredo Jaar: the fire this time. Public interventions 1979-2005. Milano : Charta, p. 150