Barbara Kruger, certainly one of the most recognizable and influential contemporary female artists, is a woman whose style and statements transcend the mundane designs of modern signage. Appearing in such places as on the back of matchbooks, billboards, shopping bags, t-shirts, television, and in subway cars, as well as exhibited in public spaces around the world, Barbara Kruger’s work sneaks up to viewers and makes them pay attention.
Her style is bold and arresting: white Futura lettering highlighted by a vibrant red rectangle placed over black and white photographs. This format is visually punching and not only because of the dynamic red and geometric typeface. It is most striking do to Kruger’s careful juxtaposition of iconic images and the text that she stamps over each photograph. In this manner Kruger, with so few words, actually says quite a bit.
Born in 1945 in Newark, New Jersey, Kruger attended Syracuse University in 1964 followed by a semester at Parsons School of Design in New York City where she studied alongside famous photographer Diane Arbus. Kruger went on to work for Mademoiselle where she would be named head designer the following year. Working through the 60’s Kruger made a living from her various graphic design endeavors.
But during the socially tumultuous decades of the 60’s and 70’s Kruger began to take a deeper interest in the social and political movements of the time, feeling that such issues should be reflected in her designs as well. Focusing on concerns such as, and not excluded to, gender, race, sexuality, consumerism and cultural stereotypes, Kruger studied the works of critical theorists such as Benjamin and Barthes while teaching at the University of California in the mid-70’s. As Kruger’s socio-political awareness progressed, so did her designs.
In 1979 Kruger published a book of photographs entitled Picture/Readings in which photos of architectural structures are juxtaposed with text about the people who inhabit these constructions. The language and approach Kruger began to take with this publication would inform her artistic voice in the decade to come.
The 80’s fostered numerous social movements in America, particularly feminism. It was also at this time that Kruger solidified her trademark style of ironic juxtaposition, the weapon she employs to comment on such movements. During the 80’s much of feminist art focused on deconstruction and the "decentering" of ideas, a concept introduced by the French philosopher Jaques Derrida. Deconstruction encourages people to reject the notion, in traditional western philosophy, of a center or an all-encompassing truth.
The idea of a center is a construction of our society and the language we use deceives us into believing that the world really is and only can be structured in this way. Perhaps in approaching the constructions of our society in a new "decentered" manner we will no longer be trapped by language in a mode of oppositional thinking, which creates hierarchical distinctions such as male and female. Kruger employs this idea of deconstruction in her work to escape meta-narratives, the order mandated by our culture that structures our knowledge and experiences.
Before continuing to analyze Kruger with this lens it is important to acknowledge that although this description cites Kruger’s academic and political influences, the tone of her work is not dense. Rather, Kruger invites the viewer into an informal dialogue with her pieces by using pronouns such as ‘I,’ ‘you’ or ‘us’ where usually the ‘you’ refers to men and the ‘us’ refers to women.
For example, in her piece Your Gaze Hits The Side of My Face (1981) the head of a female sculpture is turned so that only one side of its face is exposed with the text of the title placed over the image. We may ascertain that ‘your gaze’ refers to what the feminist author Laura Mulvey has called the "male gaze."In cinema women are objectified through the framing technique of the camera and are also trained as female audience members to look at those on screen through a masculine lens—the "male gaze". Kruger’s wit makes the viewer see how silly the emphasis on the male gaze is in our culture as it causes the viewer to miss something more, in this case, the rest of this woman’s face. Because of gender stereotypes in our society, perhaps the male gaze can only one side of femininity too.
Despite the academic undertones in Kruger’s work, her pieces often have a casual and facetious quality. In fact, most of Kruger’s work has an ironic grace that prevents the viewer from feeling accosted by the pieces’ socially driven message. First her signs address you with the use of pronouns, then they entertain you with clever text, later they cause you to question why they are amusing, and finally her pieces indicate that the humorousness comes from something deeper in our society.
Kruger’s You Are Not Yourself (1982) uses this humorous technique to underscore a feminist point of view. The words ‘you are not yourself’ are disjointedly laid over a photograph of a distressed woman looking into a shattered mirror. This montage is immediately ironic because you are looking into a mirror, the object our culture relies on to reflect reality, but it is cracked and without its reassurance you are not yourself. Somehow without the recognition of the mirror, the axis of our culture, your own existence is in question. This begs the question why are you not yourself? Continuing with the theme of feminist art, Kruger is perhaps indicating that you are not yourself because our culture, ruled by the mirror and the media, mandates that you be one thing that you are not or possibly may never be. Kruger is commenting on the unreality of the ideal female image portrayed by the media and she will revisit the stereotypical female role in later pieces Super Rich/Ultra Gorgeous/Extra Skinny/Forever Young (1997).
Kruger’s well known I Shop Therefore I Am (1990) is another arresting design with academic undertones. The title of the piece, of course in white Futura letting, is written in a red rectangle and held between the thumb and middle finger as though it were a credit card or some sort or identification. A clear reference to Descartes “I think therefore I am,” Kruger jokingly implies that in our society consumerism is valued and elevated to a level so high it supersedes consciousness. But on some levels could this be more than a joke? After all, a joke is usually half of the truth. Just think of the numbing effects advertising can have. There is more than humor in Kruger’s piece. Although, the fact that the design was featured on a shopping bag is quite entertaining, particularly for the person who sees someone else carrying it.
With such enjoyable and socially charged designs, Barbara Kruger has led a successful career as an artist and also as an author, writing for such publications as The New York Times and The Village Voice. Kruger is also politically well known for her piece Your Body Is a Battleground (1989) which was used as the poster for a pro-choice march in Washington DC. Her vast portfolio of work addresses issues cultural stereotypes, state and domestic violence, identity, gender, sexuality, and even political and social power.
In 2006 Kruger collaborated on a show in Paris entitled “How’s Love Doing” which explored the status of love in today’s world. Kruger forgoes her trademark style of red highlighting for this exhibit, but continues to emphasize her view on the physical verses emotional state of love through the careful pairing of specific text and images. With her insightful juxtapositions, often through re-contextualizing iconic American images (as in We Don’t Need Another Hero), Kruger is able to direct our attention to the social issues facing American culture today, if not change our outlook altogether. Barbara Kruger’s unique approach to bringing the world into her artwork invites us to enjoy; but more importantly she challenges us to think.
As Kruger so candidly describes, "Look, we’re all saddled with things that make us better or worse. This world is a crazy place, and I’ve chosen to make my work about that insanity."
No comments:
Post a Comment