Arts preview: Jenny Holzer shows first Chinese-language text work at Pearl Lam

It should come as no surprise that Jenny Holzer has a fine command of words. Known for her public displays of aphorisms, poems and provocative pronouncements since the late 1970s, the American artist is quick to turn disarmingly self-deprecating when asked to predict the audience reception to her latest showcase.

"I don't know," she says, looking straight at me. "Does it look like the same old junk to you?"

The answer to that lies somewhere between an apologetic yes and a courteous no. For her solo exhibition at Pearl Lam Galleries, named after the centrepiece Light Stream, Holzer is drawing upon some of her early text series - Truisms (1977-79), Living (1980-82), and Survival (1983-85) - and presenting new works in both English and Chinese. The translation from the original English has required the efforts of five translators.

"We tried hard with the translation," the artist says of the LED installations and slogan-inscribed marble benches, which are her first artworks with Chinese characters. "We relied on any number of very intelligent, diligent and earnest people."

Holzer's preoccupation with texts came after a period of uncertainty at the beginning of her career. She recalls: "Early in the 1970s, I wondered whether I was going to turn out to be one of those crazy people who stands in the park and says things, or whether I could become something I admired, like a Dadaist. I wasn't sure whether I was going to go the crackpot route, or be somebody like [Marcel] Duchamp."