2. Biography
Born: 1945, Newark, New Jersey, America.
After attending Syracuse University, the School
of Visual Arts, and studying art and design with
Diane Arbus at Parson’s School of Design in
New York, Kruger obtained a design job at
Condé Nast Publications.
Working for Mademoiselle Magazine, she was
quickly promoted to head designer. Later, she
worked as a graphic designer, art director, and
picture editor in the art departments at House
and Garden, Aperture, and other publications.
This background in design is evident in the work
for which she is now internationally renowned.
She has taught at the California Institute of Art,
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and
the University of California, Berkeley. She lives in
New York and Los Angeles.
3. Artist Practice
She layers found photographs
from existing sources with pithy
and aggressive text that involves
the viewer in the struggle for
power and control that her
captions speak to. In their
trademark black letters against a
slash of red background, her
instantly recognizable slogans
are designed and pitched as
advertisements.
4. Themes & Concepts
Much of her text questions the viewer about…
feminism
classicism
consumerism
and individual autonomy and desire
…although her black-and-white images are
culled from the mainstream magazines that sell
the very ideas she is disputing. As well as
appearing in museums and galleries worldwide,
Kruger’s work has appeared on billboards,
buses, posters, a public park, a train station
platform in Strasbourg, France, and in other
public commissions.
5. Untitled (Your Body Is A
Battleground) by Barbara
Kruger (1989).
Barbara Kruger explores feminist
theory through artistic expression.
The problematic social norms
that arise from patriarchy are
exposed through her designs. In
much of Kruger’s work, she
reveals concepts with such an
impact that the viewer is forced
to further consider her or his own
opinions and perceptions in
relation to these issues.
Photographic silkscreen on vinyl
(284.5 x 284.5cm).
6. Untitled (Your Body Is A
Battleground) by Barbara
Kruger (1989).
Kruger also works with the subject
of the gaze and its relation to
male power. Through the gaze,
men are able to gain control
over the bodies of women,
creating a tension between the
two sexes. Kruger ties this to a
critique of consumerism, in that
everything in Euro-American
culture can be bought, sold, and
owned. This ideology extends to
relationships amongst individuals
further causing struggles over
control and power. Photographic silkscreen on vinyl
(284.5 x 284.5cm).
7. Artist Talk
Click below to view a YouTube video on
a talk by Barbara Kruger.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP
7hbDkJql8
8. Kruger’s Artworks
Click to view a YouTube video of Kruger artworks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpjGISvBSp
M
Homework: Analyse one of Kruger’s work using
the frame (one of the frames or the conceptual)
you believe it best fits into, using no less than 500
words.
