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Alfredo Jaar I Can’t Go On. I’ll Go On. 2016
© Alfredo Jaar. Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co., New York
Alfredo Jaar is known for his politically charged works that address issues of global poverty, capitalist exploitation, war, and social injustice. According to Jaar, as an artist his fundamental challenge is to invent new forms by which to capture the true depths of his subjects while providing a conceptual entry point into complex histories and eliciting strong empathetic responses from viewers. I Can’t Go On. I’ll Go On. is characteristic of one of Jaar’s primary means of facing this challenge: applying the use of evocative texts to imagery that is familiar to the public eye, such as neon signs. The statement written in neon—a line from Samuel Beckett’s 1953 novel The Unnamable—encapsulates the emotional pendulum that swings back and forth between despair and the determination to survive, providing a window into the inner lives of innumerable victims and survivors of violence and poverty throughout the world.
Identification
Title
I Can’t Go On. I’ll Go On.
Production Date
2016
Object Number
2016.66
Credit Line
Collection Pérez Art Museum Miami, gift of Alfredo Jaar, Carbono Galeria, São Paulo, and Galerie Lelong, New York
Copyright
© Alfredo Jaar. Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co., New York
https://www.pamm.org/en/artwork/2016.66
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Physical Qualities
Medium
Neon
Dimensions
19 5/8 x 19 5/8 inches
Visual Description
I Can’t Go On. I’ll Go On. is a neon sign by the Chilean artist, Alfredo Jaar, completed in two thousand sixteen. It is approximately twenty inches tall by twenty inches wide, and one and a half inches deep. I Can’t Go On. I’ll Go On. is characteristic of Jaar’s use of evocative texts and imagery that is familiar to the public eye, in this case the neon sign. This neon sign hangs bare on the wall, with only a few white cords that power the neon tubes visible behind it. It consists of two parts, and is written in a modern, narrow font that is taller than it is wide. The top part of the neon occupies a third of the space and shows the phrase “I CAN’T GO ON.” written in all capital letters, glowing in bright red. The bottom part of the sign occupies the majority, or two-thirds of the space with the phrase “I’LL GO ON.” glowing in white text this time, while also written in all capital letters. Although the bottom portion occupies the same width, it is written much taller than the text on top, as if to suggest that the will to keep going is superseding the urge to quit.
