Barbara Kruger is a world renowned and respected artist to this day for her work in multiple fields of advertising and posters. "In 1969 she made her first artworks, crocheted and sewn wall hangings, and began to write poetry and organize shows"(Maneker). She has managed to get her famous designs on multiple platforms from billboards to train stations in the US and Europe. She's still an active artist, and still questions the current way of life we live in.
She was born in Newark, New Jersey, however she studied in Syracuse University, the School of Visual Arts and studied art and design with Diane Arbus at Parson’s School of Design in New York. With the experience she gained, she was very good with intricate designs and photo editing to show a sort of dark and twisted theme of how our society is in a state of self destruction. Her most famous works is her use of pop culture imagery before and during the 1980's and displaying them in black and white. She then placed a red background and/or shapes with contradicting or misleading text to show her opinion on issues before, during and after the 80's.
"The juxtaposition of word and image in Barbara Kruger's highly recognizable
work is derived from twelve years as a designer and photo editor for Conde
Nast publications. Short, pithy caption-like copy is scattered over
fragmented and enlarged photographs appropriated from various media.
Usually declarative or accusatory in tone, these phrases posit an opposition
between the pronouns "you" and "we," which satirically refer to "men" and
"women." These humorous works suspend the viewer between the fascination
of the image and the indictment of the text while reminding us that language
and its use within culture to construct and maintina proverbs, jobs, jokes,
myths, and history reinforce the interests and perspective of those who
control it" (Berger 65-90).
She questioned the way woman were displayed as objects and expressed her
own opinion of how futile the typical masculine can be in pop culture. Chadwick
mentioned a little bit about Kruger and her work on masculine roles:
“She emphasizes the ways in which language is manipulated and undermines
the assumption of masculine control over language and viewing” (Chadwick
382). What this means is that she questioned not only the general
(human) role in society but how overly masculine the world has become.
Her work has inspired many people in the art world, conscious or subconsciously, and has pushed forward the wheels of time to progress into a new era of society in the upcoming Century. Graphic design, Print and Photography artists alike are inspired by work she's created. Postmodernism can't be defined as of yet because it is still difficult to identify everything as a single group and when it can be identified, some artworks will be debunked and left behind. However, her work is so fluid in various subject matters, that I believe will be a form of identifying Postmodernism for years to come.
Citations:
Cf. John Berger's Ways of Seeing Chap 3.; Craig Owen, "The Discourse
of Others," The Anti-Aesthetic. Ed. Hal Foster. pp.
65-90.
Maneker, Marion. "A Short History of Barbara Kruger." Art Market Monitor.
Collé, Höchberg & Grey LLC., 29 Aug. 2010. Web. 20 Nov. 2012.
<http://artmarketmonitor.com/2010/08/29/a-short-history-of-barbara-kruger/>.
Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. New York, NY: Thames and Hudson, 1990.Print.
The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. New_York: Penguin, 1998. Print.
Your post is very descriptive and contains a lot of images that illustrate the artists ideas and beliefs. It is interesting to see how modern day art (as you mentioned graphic design) is strongly influenced by Kruger. I also think making connections with Berger's analysis of subject interpretation relates extremely well.
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