American conceptual/pop artist Barbara Kruger is internationally renowned for her signature black, white and red poster-style works of art that convey in-your-face messages on women's rights and issues of power. Coming out of the magazine publishing industry, Kruger knows precisely how to capture the viewer's attention with her bold and witty photomurals displayed on billboards, bus stops and public transportation as well as in major museums and galleries wordwide. She has edited books on cultural theory, including Remaking History for the Dia Foundation, and has published articles in the New York Times, Artforum, and other periodicals. Monographs on her work include Love for Sale, We Won't Play Nature to Your Culture and others. She is represented in New York by Mary Boone Gallery. A major exhibition of her work will be presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles in fall 1999, and at the Whitney Museum in New York in 2000.The piece above, Untitled (1981) is a good example of her earlier work, showing the classic features of blending art and commerce, using a 'found image', bold Futura text, limited pallete and message exploring social and feminist issues.
Although key elements such as the message and text in her work have stayed the same, in some of her more recent pieces she has begun to incorporate different colours, such as the Face It series (2007). Also, her older work was printed on to everyday items such as mugs or umbrellas, making them quite commercial, while more recently she extended her work into large-scale installations.
‘Between Being Born & Dying’ (2009) is an installation that moves away from the ‘poster’ style seen in Kruger’s earlier work. Her bold text covers the Lever House, some of it being 5.18 meters tall. Kruger wanted the viewers to completely engulf the viewer.
'I think what I'm trying to do is create moments of recognition. To try to detonate some kind of feeling or understanding of lived experience. I try to deal with the complexities of power and social life, but as far as the visual presentation goes I purposely avoid a high degree of difficulty'.
-Barbara Kruger
Three more examples of her work (from left to right) are Untitled (Belief + Doubt = Sanity) (2008), ‘Your Body is a Battleground’ (1989) and ‘No Radio’ (1988).
I think the audience feels more involved in a spatial, installation artwork compared with a poster. This is because an installation becomes a part of your space, rather than a separate item.
The key elements that Kruger uses in her work that creates a strong impact is the limited palette, size, and the use of pronouns. I think the fact that her works have direct conversation with its audience also adds impact.
Over the last 30 years, Kruger has made subtle changes within her work that have kept it modern, but has continuously made work revolving around ongoing political, social, and feminist issues. The biggest change has been the shift from a more commercial 2D style to spatial installation work.
The strong graphic design aesthetic remains impressive, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of it in the future.
REFERENCES:
(n.a) 2010 ‘Barbara Kruger’ retrieved 1 Sep from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Kruger
(n.a., n.d) ‘Biography’ retrieved 1 Sep from: http://www.guggenheimcollection.org/site/artist_bio_81.html
Robinson, M. (2009) ‘Between Being Born & Dying By Barbara Kruger’ retrieved 1 Sep from: http://the189.com/art/between-being-born-dying-by-barbara-kruger/
(n.a., n.d) ‘Feminist Artist’ retrieved 1 Sep from: http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/feminist/Barbara-Kruger.html
