Barbara Kruger mainly worked with photography and collage but did experiment with a variety of other mediums. She actually started out creating abstract wall hangings that were sexually suggestive and were even displayed in the Whitney Biennial in 1973.
Why is Barbara Kruger so famous?
One of the most important and instantly recognizable artists of the 1970s, Barbara Kruger’s bold text art questions the coercive power and control of mass media and advertising. Legendary American text artist Barbara Kruger made her name in the 1970s with striking, attention-grabbing slogans in black, white and red.
Where did Barbara Kruger go to college?
See Article History. Barbara Kruger, (born January 26, 1945, Newark, New Jersey, U.S.), American artist who challenged cultural assumptions by manipulating images and text in her photographic compositions. Kruger attended Syracuse (New York) University and continued her training in 1966 at New York City’s Parsons School of Design.
What did Karen Kruger do for a living?
Kruger attended Syracuse (New York) University and continued her training in 1966 at New York City’s Parsons School of Design. For a time she pursued a career as a graphic designer, eventually becoming chief designer at Mademoiselle magazine in New York. In the 1960s and ’70s she also explored an interest in poetry.
What inspired Kruger’s early work?
And what I really remember is the design collection,” Kruger’s first artistic inspiration evolved into her bold graphic prints that powerfully confronted social issues. For this early work Kruger appropriated a portion of Michelangelo's renowned Sistine Chapel ceiling fresco notably the image of God's hand touching Adam's at the moment of creation.
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What inspired Barbara Kruger's work?
Inspired by new ideas and her own graphic design experience, Kruger began developing a signature style and subject matter. She also started to teach, to write criticism about television and cinema, and to curate exhibitions, which centered on her interests in advertising and media.
What techniques did Barbara Kruger use?
During the early 1980s Barbara Kruger perfected a signature agitprop style, using cropped, large-scale, black-and-white photographic images juxtaposed with raucous, pithy, and often ironic aphorisms, printed in Futura Bold typeface against black, white, or deep red text bars.
How would you describe Barbara Kruger's work?
Barbara Kruger is a contemporary American artist known for her use of bold red, white, and black type overlaid with images of cultural critique. Her work examines the stereotypes and behaviors of consumerism through the eyes of feminist discourse with jarring sophistication.
What is Barbara Krugers art style?
Contemporary artBarbara Kruger / PeriodContemporary art Dona i Ocell, by Joan Miró Rose, by Isa Genzken Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Wikipedia
Who did Supreme steal their logo from?
Supreme, a skateboard and apparel brand established in 1994, have been accused of taking their logo—the white word "Supreme" on a red box—from Kruger's signature style. James Jebbia, founder of Supreme, has admitted that the logo was taken from Kruger's work.
Why does Barbara Kruger use black-and-white images?
The juxtaposition of text and imagery addresses issues like power circulation in societies and criticizes sexism. She uses the colors white and red for her text that stand out on black and white photos. Two of her most noted slogans are Your body is a battleground, and I shop therefore I am.
What materials does Barbara Kruger use?
She uses photographic prints, video, metals, cloth, magazines, and other materials to create pictures, collage and other works of art.
Who is the most famous artist today?
The 30 Most Popular Modern and Contemporary ArtistsCindy Sherman (b. 1954)Liu Xiaodong (b. 1963)Cecily Brown (b. 1969)Liu Wei (b. 1965)Miquel Barcelo (b. 1957)Takashi Murakami (b. 1962)Günther Förg (1952-2013)Luo Zhongli (b. 1948)More items...
Why did Barbara Kruger create you are not yourself?
Her “You are not yourself” work suggests that a woman's view of herself is shattered, much like the mirror in the artwork is. Among the world's expectations and assumptions about her, in a quiet moment of reflection, a woman realizes that she is never herself.
How do you analyze Barbara Kruger?
0:042:202min Art Analysis: Barbara Kruger - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipShe is smiling or laughing with her face tilted. Back it is positioned on a diagonal with a slightMoreShe is smiling or laughing with her face tilted. Back it is positioned on a diagonal with a slight three-quarter profile. Her eyes are looking towards the viewer.
How does Barbara Kruger involve the viewer in her artwork in an almost aggressive way?
How does Barbara Kruger involve the viewer in her artwork in an almost aggressive way? In Untitled, Barbara Kruger forcefully places herself in a male-dominated sphere, represented by the passing down of knowledge and artistry from God to Adam, father to son, and teacher to student.
What is today's art called?
contemporary artStrictly speaking, the term "contemporary art" refers to art made and produced by artists living today. Today's artists work in and respond to a global environment that is culturally diverse, technologically advancing, and multifaceted.
What materials does Barbara Kruger use?
She uses photographic prints, video, metals, cloth, magazines, and other materials to create pictures, collage and other works of art.
How does Barbara Kruger involve the viewer in her artwork in an almost aggressive way?
How does Barbara Kruger involve the viewer in her artwork in an almost aggressive way? In Untitled, Barbara Kruger forcefully places herself in a male-dominated sphere, represented by the passing down of knowledge and artistry from God to Adam, father to son, and teacher to student.
How does Barbara Kruger use words?
She uses a striking contrast between the words and their backgrounds, forcing the viewer to pause and take notice. Like the mass media headlines that Kruger opposes, she utilize sensationalism to deliver her messages to society.
How do you analyze Barbara Kruger?
0:042:202min Art Analysis: Barbara Kruger - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipShe is smiling or laughing with her face tilted. Back it is positioned on a diagonal with a slightMoreShe is smiling or laughing with her face tilted. Back it is positioned on a diagonal with a slight three-quarter profile. Her eyes are looking towards the viewer.
What did Barbara Kruger do in the 1960s?
By the late 1960s, Kruger became interested in poetry , and began attending poetry readings as well as writing her own poetry.
Where did Barbara Kruger exhibit her work?
In 1979, Barbara Kruger exhibited her first works combining appropriated photographs and fragments of superimposed text at P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, in Long Island City, Queens. Her first institutional show was staged in London, when Iwona Blazwick decided to exhibit her work at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in 1983. In 1999, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles mounted the first retrospective exhibition to provide a comprehensive overview of Kruger's career since 1978; the show travelled to the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York in 2000. Kruger has since been the subject of many one-person exhibitions, including shows organized by the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London (1983), the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal (1985), Serpentine Gallery in London (1994), Palazzo delle Papesse Centro Arte Contemporanea in Siena (2002), the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (2005), and Moderna Museet in Stockholm (2008).
Why does Kruger say I work with pictures and words?
Kruger has said that, "I work with pictures and words because they have the ability to determine who we are and who we aren't." A recurring element in her work is the appropriation and alteration of existing images. In describing her use of appropriation, Kruger states:
Why did Barbara Kruger feel intimidated by New York galleries?
At the beginning of her art career, Kruger reportedly felt intimidated by entering New York galleries due to the prevailing atmosphere of the art scene which, to her, did not welcome "particularly independent, non-masochistic women." However, she received early support for her projects from groups such as the Public Art Fund, which encouraged her to continue making art. She switched to her modern practice of collage in the early 1980s.
What is Kruger's style of art?
Kruger's early monochrome pre-digital works, known as 'paste ups', reveal the influence of the artist's experience as a magazine editorial designer during her early career. These small scale works, the largest of which is 11 x 13 inches (28 x 33 cm), are composed of altered found images, and texts either culled from the media or invented by the artist. A negative of each work was then produced and used to make enlarged versions of these initial 'paste ups'. Between 1978 and 1979, she completed "Picture/Readings," simple photographs of modest houses alternating with panels of words. From 1992 on, Kruger designed covers for a number of magazines, including Ms., Esquire, Newsweek, and The New Republic. Her signature font style of Futura Bold type is likely inspired by the "Big Idea" or "Creative Revolution" advertising style of the 1960s that she was exposed to during her experience at Mademoiselle.
What is Kruger's method of word art?
Much of Kruger's work pairs found photographs with pithy and assertive text that challenges the viewer, known as word art. Her method includes developing her ideas on a computer, later transferring the results (often billboard-sized) into printed images. Examples of her instantly recognizable slogans include "I shop therefore I am," "Your body is a battleground," and "You are not yourself" appearing in her signature white letters against a red background. Most of her work deals with provocative topics like feminism, consumerism, and individual autonomy and desire, frequently appropriating images from mainstream magazines and using her bold phrases to frame them in a new context.
Where does Barbara Kruger live?
Kruger lives and works in New York and Los Angeles. She is a Distinguished Professor of New Genres at the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture.
Where did Barbara Kruger go to school?
Kruger attended Syracuse (New York) University and continued her training in 1966 at New York City ’s Parsons School of Design. For a time she pursued a career as a graphic designer, eventually becoming chief designer at Mademoiselle magazine in New York. In the 1960s and ’70s she also explored an interest in poetry. During these years she moved from a concentration on soft sculpture (namely, woven wall hangings) and painting to photography.
What is the style of Kruger?
By the late 1970s Kruger had developed her trademark style: appropriating anonymous cultural images and text—the latter often displayed in white Futura type across a red box—and juxtaposing them in unexpected ways. In her 1989 work Untitled (Your Body Is a Battleground), for example, she employed an oversized black-and-white image ...
What is the name of the mural that Kruger painted?
In 1990 her work Untitled (I Shop Therefore I Am) (1987) appeared on shopping bags, while Untitled (Questions), a three-story mural resembling the U.S. flag, was installed at the Museum of Contemporary Art, ...
What is Barbara Kruger's art?
Barbara Kruger used her classical training in design and her experience in the fashion industry to create conceptual art that pushed audiences to question assumptions about gender, violence, patriotism, and their relationship to the media. At age 22, she became chief designer at Mademoiselle. Kruger began creating pieces that used red and white text superimposed on photographs and advertisements to push viewers to rethink their assumptions. Her work was included in the prestigious 1973 Whitney Biennial, among other venues, and she has been commissioned for projects ranging from outdoor installations around the world to ads promoting art education in schools, as well as pro-choice and anti-domestic-violence PSAs. She also writes art criticism, has taught at many institutions, and as of 2014 is professor emerita at UCLA.
Where did Barbara Kruger go to school?
Kruger studied at Syracuse University, the School of Visual Arts, and the Parsons School of Design. At Parsons, she took courses with photographer Diane Arbus and graphic designer and art director Marvin Israel. Although she never completed a degree in her chosen field, fine arts, Kruger’s association with Israel landed her a job with Condé Nast Publications. Within a year, at age twenty-two, she was chief designer at Mademoiselle.
What did Barbara Kruger do in 1979?
In 1979 Kruger abandoned photography, choosing instead to work with found images, which she would subvert by overlaying them with collaged texts. As influenced by her early work as a graphic designer, she began incorporating short, punchy statements. When placed with pre-existing imagery, Kruger realized she could open the image up in a new way, raising pertinent issues about oppression or violence, particularly in relation to rising Feminism and The Women’s Movement. Reducing her colours to red, white and black was influenced by Russian Constructivist artists such as Alexander Rodchenko, but it also gave her work the striking immediacy of tabloid headlines.
Where did Barbara Kruger go to school?
She was bright and ambitious, with aspirations of becoming an architect. But after attending Weequahic High School, Kruger chose instead to study art at Syracuse University in New York.
What magazine did Kruger cover?
In response to Governor Spitzer’s prostitution scandal, Kruger made a magazine cover for Consumer Magazine , with a picture of Spitzer and the slogan “BRAIN” followed by an arrow pointing towards his crotch.
What font did Kruger use?
Kruger made the Futura font famous with her red and white slogans. As influenced by her, streetwear brand Supreme transposed the same style and colour font into its logo.
What is the Kruger exhibition?
Since the 1990s Kruger has created full-scale, immersive installations, sometimes covering entire gallery spaces with words; she called her exhibition at Mary Boone Gallery, New York, 1991 an “arena of hostility.” Kruger has also made public art installations on walls, billboards and buildings around the world, as well as provocative magazine covers for magazines including The New Republic and Esquire. Along with her subversive practice, Kruger writes polemic articles for The New York Times and The Village Voice.
Where did Kruger take over?
As a part of the same Performa 17 event, Kruger took over a skate park in Chinatown, produced a limited edition run of MetroCards and printed a series of slogans across a bus in New York.
Who is Rosie Lesso?
By Rosie Lesso MA Contemporary Art Theory, BA Fine Art Rosie is a contributing writer and artist based in Scotland. She has produced writing for a wide range of arts organizations including Tate Modern, The National Galleries of Scotland, Art Monthly, and Scottish Art News, with a focus on modern and contemporary art. She holds an MA in Contemporary Art Theory from the University of Edinburgh and a BA in Fine Art from Edinburgh College of Art. Previously she has worked in both curatorial and educational roles, discovering how stories and history can really enrich our experience of art.
What was Kruger's most famous work?
One of her most famous works proclaimed, “I shop therefore I am.”.
What is the best way to describe Kruger's work?
What’s the best way to describe her work? You know abstract expressionism, right? Well, think of Kruger’s art as “extract expressionism.” She takes images from the mass media and pastes words over them, big, bold extracts of text—aphorisms, questions, slogans. Short machine-gun bursts of words that when isolated, and framed by Kruger’s gaze, linger in your mind, forcing you to think twice, thrice about clichés and catchphrases, introducing ironies into cultural idioms and the conventional wisdom they embed in our brains.
Why is Kruger's aura so bad?
For some, Kruger has had a forbidding aura, which is probably because of the stringent feminist content of some of her more agitprop aphorisms, such as “Your body is a battleground,” which features a woman’s face made into a grotesque-looking mask by slicing it in half and rendering one side as a negative. When I later told people I’d found Kruger down-to-earth, humorous and even kindly, those who knew her readily agreed, those who knew only her early work were a bit surprised.
What is the dream machine magazine?
The dream-machine magazine empire of Condé Nast (which also publishes Vogue, Vanity Fair and Glamour) —the dizzyingly seductive and powerful fusion of fashion, class, money, image and status—represented both an inspiration and an inviting target.
Where was Barbara Kruger photographed?
Kruger photographed in her New York studio. Chester Higgins Jr. / The New York Times / Redux
Who is responsible for the concept of cultural capital?
Read his Moscow Diary! ”), and Pierre Bourdieu, the influential postmodern French intellectual responsible for the concept of “cultural capital” (the idea that status, “prestige” and media recognition count as much as money when it comes to assessing power). But she knows theory is not enough.
Who said "that which continues to repay attention"?
Christopher Ricks, a former Oxford professor of poetry, once told me the simplest way to recognize value in art: It is “that which continues to repay attention.”. And Barbara Kruger’s words not only repay but demand attention from us.
What did Barbara Kruger do?
Kruger learned her craft working as a graphic designer in magazines in the mid-to-late-1960s, where she grasped the imperative and the technique of engaging the viewer with arresting visuals. Her artwork employs the visual language of branding and advertising to condemn consumer culture and to critique constructs of power, identity, and gender , ...
What is Kruger's work?
Despite her loathing for fantasy-fuelled consumer culture, Kruger’s work is so immediately recognisable it’s become a kind of brand in itself. By adopting the visual language of advertising in order to parody and critique consumerism, her work has, like some sort of reflexive mirror game, been appropriated by brands as a signifier of cool.
What fonts did Barbara Kruger use?
Barbara Kruger came to prominence in the 1980s when she began making boldly graphic art juxtaposing striking images with provocative, declarative statements in what would become her signature aesthetic (white-on-red Helvetica and Futura fonts). If her work reminds you of propaganda, that’s because it is: it’s propaganda for anti-consumerism, for women’s rights, for equality, and for thinking.
Where is Kruger's art displayed?
Despite having been shown in some of the most prestigious museums and galleries in the world, Kruger’s art is arguably at its most potent when exhibited in non-traditional art spaces, such as the facades of public buildings, billboards, on public transport, and consumer goods.
Is Kruger crazy about categories?
Throughout her career, Kruger has struggled against being pigeonholed in any way. She has insisted, “I'm not crazy about categories.”
Is Kruger a feminist?
Despite the overt feminist sentiment of these works and the fact that she absolutely defines herself as a feminist, Kruger has always resisted definitions when it comes to her art, saying, “Women’s art, political art – those categorisations perpetuate a certain kind of marginality which I’m resistant to.
What is Barbara Kruger's style?
During the early 1980s Barbara Kruger perfected a signature agitprop style, using cropped, large-scale, black-and-white photographic images juxtaposed with raucous, pithy, and often ironic aphorisms, printed in Futura Bold typeface against black, white, or deep red text bars. The inclusion of personal pronouns in works like Untitled (Your Gaze Hits the Side of My Face) (1981) and Untitled (I Shop Therefore I Am) (1987) implicates viewers by confounding any clear notion of who is speaking. These rigorously composed mature works function successfully on any scale. Their wide distribution—under the artist’s supervision—in the form of umbrellas, tote bags, postcards, mugs, T-shirts, posters, and so on, confuses the boundaries between art and commerce and calls attention to the role of the advertising in public debate.
Where was Barbara Kruger born?
American conceptual/pop artistBarbara Kruger was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1945 and left there in 1964 to attend Syracuse University. Early on she developed an interest in graphic design, poetry, writing and attended poetry readings.
When did Barbara Kruger stop taking photographs?
By 1979 Barbara Kruger stopped taking photographs and began to employ found images in her art, mostly from mid-century American print-media sources, with words collaged directly over them. Her 1980 untitled piece commonly known as "Perfect" portrays the torso of a woman, hands clasped in prayer, evoking the Virgin Mary, the embodiment of submissive femininity; the word “perfect” is emblazoned along the lower edge of the image.
When was violence an illustration of a pathetic stereotype?
All Violence is an Illustration of a Pathetic Stereotype - 1991
When did "We won't play nature to your culture" come out?
We Won't Play Nature to your Culture - 1983
Overview
Artistic practice
Addressing issues of language and sign, Kruger has often been grouped with such feminist postmodern artists as Jenny Holzer, Sherrie Levine, Martha Rosler, and Cindy Sherman. Like Holzer and Sherman, in particular, she uses the techniques of mass communication and advertising to explore gender and identity. She discusses her interest in representing "how we are to one anothe…
Early life and career
Kruger was born into a working-class family in Newark, New Jersey. Her father worked as a chemical technician for Shell Oil and her mother was a legal secretary.
Kruger graduated from Weequahic High School. She attended Syracuse University, but left after one year due to the death of her father. After her year at Syracuse University, in 1965, she went on to attend the Parsons School of Design in New York for a semester. Over the next ten years, …
Exhibitions
In 1979, Barbara Kruger exhibited her first works combining appropriated photographs and fragments of superimposed text at P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, in Long Island City, Queens. Her first institutional show was staged in London, when Iwona Blazwick decided to exhibit her work at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in 1983. In 1999, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles mounted the first retrospective exhibition to provide a comprehensive overview of Krug…
Personal life
Kruger lives in the Beachwood Canyon neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Recognition
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles awarded Kruger the MOCA Award to Distinguished Women in the Arts in 2001. In 2005, she was included in The Experience of Art at the Venice Biennale and was the recipient of the Leone d'Oro for lifetime achievement. At the 10th anniversary Gala in the Garden at the Hammer Museum in 2012, Kruger was honored by TV presenter Rachel Maddow. In 2012, Kruger joined John Baldessari and Catherine Opie in leaving the Museum of Co…
Art market
Kruger's first dealer was Gagosian Gallery, with which she did two shows in Los Angeles in the early 1980s. In 1986, she was the first woman to join the prominent contemporary art gallery of Mary Boone and has had nine solo shows there. Following's the gallery's closure, she moved to David Zwirner Gallery in 2019. Kruger is also represented by Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago; and Sprüth Magers Berlin London (since 1985) and L&M Arts in Los Angeles.
Supreme lawsuit
Supreme, a skateboard and apparel brand established in 1994, have been accused of taking their logo—the white word "Supreme" on a red box—from Kruger's signature style. James Jebbia, founder of Supreme, has admitted that the logo was taken from Kruger's work. Kruger herself had not commented on this issue until a recent lawsuit between Supreme and Leah McSweeney, founder of Married to the Mob (MTTM), a women's street clothing brand. MTTM used the Supre…