Essay

Barbara Kruger Uncovered

H. Burton

English Composition 1302

February 24, 2009

Selby Larson

To the naked eye art is restricted to certain areas in our daily life, for instance a museum. Often perceived as a way of expression, many assume depressed people stroke their pain away onto a white canvas aisle and later present it in a showcase hoping for, in return, what little acceptance exists. Others view art as a work done manually by kindergarteners with finger paint later to hang on the fridge in a boastful manner. Not for Barbara Kruger though. In her eyes, art is everywhere and expressed in the simplest form of comprehension—words.

As a Newark, New Jersey, native, Barbara Kruger grew up not even a half an hour from one of The United States’ most thriving artistic communities, New York City. Born on January 26, 1945, it would be only a green twenty-one years before what seemed to her as a keen career opportunity to blossom into a prominent expertise (Rogallery.com 1). Attending Syracuse University for only a year in 1964 and then transferring to Parsons School of Design in New York for one semester, Kruger needed little more to jumpstart her very fortunate life. While at Parsons Design School, she worked with Diane Arbus and graphic designer Marvin Israel, which led her to an altering encounter (Rogallery.com 1).

In a biographical document composed on www.RoGallery.com in 2008, an anonymous author reported, “In 1966, she took a job with Condé Nast, working in the design department of Mademoiselle” (Barbara Kruger 1). After only a year with the magazine, Kruger held the title of head designer. Continuing on the road of expression, “for the next ten years Kruger took up graphic designing for magazines, book jackets, and even freelance picture editing” (Rogallery.com). With her love of design and photography also came her passion for poetry, but her talents showed no signs of conclusion. After realizing through her showings in the Whitney Biennial in 1973, Artists Spaces, and Fischbach Gallery in New York, Kruger decided to say “alvedersain” to art making and take on teaching (Rogallery.com 1). She moved to Berkley where she taught for four years. Her teachings have also taken place at the California Institute of Art and The School of the Art Institute in Chicago (Pbs.org 1). Not until 1977 did Kruger’s most famous work begin. First, Kruger took her own black-and-white photographs and later interjected over-laying slogans, but two years later, she cut out the middleman and chose to use pre-existing images (Pbs.org 1). Most of the chosen pictures revolved around “mid-century American print-media sources, with words collaged directly over them” (RoGallery.com 1). From here, Kruger’s professionalism blasted and managed to continue over-taking its viewers as an anonymous author quotes Juliana Engberg deciphering in an undated documentary on www.geocities.com posted by the Museum of American Art:

Barbara Kruger's on going project is to provoke questions about power and its effect on the human condition: to investigate the way power is constructed, used and abused. In her works, which have become the demonstrative visual icons of the 1980s and 1990s, power is interrogated and interpreted through the social, economic and political arrangements which motor the life impulses of love, hate, sex and death. (Barbara Kruger 1)

Through Ms. Kruger’s recognizable black and white shades of media with bursts of bold red phrases in her trademark futura bold italic text, she focuses on her audience and capturing their intellect. An anonymous author in an article titled, “Whitney Museum of Art,” published in 2000, stated that, “Kruger's work addresses the cultural representations of power, identity and sexuality, and challenges the spectacles of stereotypes and clichés” (tfaoi.com 2). By the looks of her most recent works such as her exhibits at the Mary Boone Gallery, the above aspects all apply leaving her spectators with philosophical vantage points (tfaoi.com 1).

Barbara Kruger’s main medium through her art is words applied with media. In her self-titled exhibit at the Mary Boone Gallery, text jumped to new locations. Words appeared on the floor, on the walls, and on the ceiling, almost trapping her viewers. Her purpose was for her work to be viewed from every angle, drawing different attention to certain messages (arthistoryarchive.com 5). In an article on arthistoryarchive.com entitled Barbara Kruger—Feminist Art posted at an undated time by an anonymous author, H.W./Anthony F Janson quotes his interpretation of the Mary Boone Gallery Exhibit:

Kruger's works are direct and evoke an immediate response. Usually her style involves the cropping of a magazine or newspaper image enlarged in black and white. The enlargement of the image is done as crudely as possible to monumental proportions. A message is stenciled on the image, usually in white letters against a background of red. The text and image are unrelated in an effort to create anxiety by the audience that plays on the fears of society. (The Art History Archive 6)

Kruger’s work is not only seen in museums and exhibitions all around the world, she branches out to every audience. Her provocative photos and sturdy notations have made visits everywhere as Pbs’s Art in the Twenty-First Century biography article published in 2007 documented, “Kruger’s work has appeared on billboards, bus cards, posters, a public park, a train station platform in Strasbourg, France, and in other public commissions”(Pbs.org). In her piece regarding abortion, a picture of President George W. Bush underlying text reads “Pro-life for the unborn…Pro-death for the born” appeals strictly to issues with an ethos pull. This topic has been on debate tables for years and continues to touch people. Some may say that this would draw matters to more of a pathos category, feeling that abortion is spiteful and immoral. Although, this piece could also hold a trace of logos, regarding the judgment and logic on such an influential issue. In difference, Kruger’s work ultimately reflects its meaning based on one’s opinions during examination.

Leah Ollman reports on June 28, 2008, in a Los Angeles Times article titled, “Barbara Kruger Goes Back to School,” quoting Barbara Kruger on her self-evaluation, in which she holds a firm motive:

The world is so different than when I was born, and yet there are some things that do stay the same," she said. "I try to make work about how we are to one another. It's a creation of a kind of commentary. People through time have been struggling with this. You can read a Russian novel from 150 years ago and some of it feels so alive today. That's the power of this commentary that sometimes we call art. (Ollman 3)

A much deeper spirituality peeks through as Kruger speaks of her own work. She appoints current and lasting problems very bluntly, but the purpose is prosperous. I feel as though she simply wishes to better the world and truly make people interrogate an inner opinion rather than one based on biases. Kruger seems to ward off fear of rejection by splattering it through media with fierce phrases and simple, but strong colors, without a timid persona. Her work is quite influential and the declarative messages prevail a very real take on art, which is why many find it alluring.

Kruger holds a mentality in which drawing in her audience relies much on first glances, hence the conspicuous color usage, along with cunning connotations. This image holds ability to captivate any girl, young or old, by its simple use of a popular childhood favorite—Snow White. Shel Silverstein, a famous poet, among many other occupations, reflects much of the image Kruger attempted to reveal to the world in his poem titled, “Tell Me.” Silverstein writes, “Tell me I’m clever / Tell me I’m kind / Tell me I’m talented” (1-3), resembling much of Kruger’s implication of self-admiration conveyed through the picture. The blonde, tall, glowing Caucasian women seems to silently boast, possibly searching for reassurance, much like Silverstein indicates in the following lines:

Tell me I’m cute,

Tell me I’m sensitive,

Graceful and wise,

Tell me I’m perfect— (4-7).

The character showcased in this solo picture hopes for just those things. Perhaps Kruger attempted to note to the viewer that this lady seems to have all of those characteristics. Although, actually hearing the compliments would automatically produce positivity, a possible need of this woman and resemblance to the poem. Silverstein’s dialect delegates connection with Kruger’s larger bold message, asking a controversial question of who is the fairest, when many individuals define fair with different value. Silverstein’s last line in the poem reads, “But tell me the truth.” These last words leave his readers with a slap in the face of reality, similarly to Kruger’s last words in the message, “of them all.” Both artists touch back to the bitterness of actuality, Kruger with a mannerism to incorporate a group not missing a single soul and Silverstein with the plainly simple truth.

Barbara Kruger captured much of my respect as I have found. Her work holds originality with a hint of spunk in some of her work, honesty in others, but concentration and charm in all. Photographs and images in black and white shades attract a lingering eye, while her use of red splashes one with interest. In an article published on August 7, 2000, an unknown author quotes Ms. Kruger’s purpose for her style, “I work with pictures and words because they have the ability to determine who we are and who we aren't,” a perfect theory for art, but more importantly, a spectacular reason to craft.