American conceptual/pop artistBarbara 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.
Research Kruger's work to find an example from the 1970s or 1980s to compare with a more recent work. How has Kruger's work changed with the developments in contemporary visual arts? Describe a recent work that moves away from the 'poster' type work of her early career.
Find 2-3 works by Kruger to add to your blog.
How does the audience experience a more spatial, installation art work compared with a poster?
Between Being Born and Dying (September,2009)
Your Body is a Battleground (1989)
Your comfort is my silence (1981)
Barbara was working as a graphic designer for magazines between the late 1970s and early 1980s. She played with the photo – based images overlaid in a signature color scheme of black, white and red. She has been using slogans to question the social and political forces within society, and to promote causes she believes in such as supporting legal abortion and fighting domestic violence during that period of time. Appropriation and replication of imagery from mass culture are used throughout Kruger’s work as she has inspired by the techniques of photolithography and screen print which allows her to make whether large – scale and unique or ephemeral and printed in thousands of copies. She has turned mass media to visual strategies which by returning to their sources on covers she created for magazines. She has said that "I work with pictures and words because they have the ability to determine who we are and who we aren’t."
Combination of images and texts containing criticism of sexism and the circulation of power within cultures is the main point in both Kruger’s early and recently works.
The works Kruger is making over the last 30 years have been developed from poster to a more spatial and installation art work range. However, the concept of feminism, consumerism, and individual autonomy and desire is never lost throughout all her work. For example, in Between Being Born and Dying (September,2009), she used graphical technology to create, to emphasize a space. The entire ground floor lobby of Aby Rosen's midtown office building is wrapped with black and white vinyl text. Quotes that Kruger appropriates in this installation include:
"The meaning of life is that it stops." -Kafka
"The globe shrinks for those that own it." -Humi K. Bhabha
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Kruger
http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/feminist/Barbara-Kruger.html
hi Celine^^
ReplyDeletei think for Barbara's works all are black , white and red. It's looks so clear. People is easy to understand what she is conveying. Compare with recent poster. I think recent work is more sample than the past, and more colorful. Nowadays, designers like to use images to convey the massage rather than use words.
Her work is pretty cool. It never stops the viewer to think of its meaningful message. I am doing 2D work at the moment to make a double page spread but it is a bit hard. I was thinking first time it will be easy rather then doing more works over 27works. but... haha I realized that it is more difficult to show lots of information on only one page.
ReplyDeleteHowever, she creates many famous works to influence on the people dealing with social issues. that kind of issues is huge and really abroad! but how she made simply the meaning of life!? she is very clever I think.