Contemporary artist practices and perspectives

¶ … Artist

Barbara Kruger -- a Postmodern Feminist Artist

Brief artist biography

According to the PBS Website Art 21, the contemporary artist Barbara Kruger was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1945. She studied at Syracuse University's School of Visual Arts and then at Parson's School of Design in New York. There, she worked with the legendary designer and artist Diane Arbus. Kruger did not immediately obtain work as a professional artist, but first as a designer. Kruger's first job was at Conde Nast Publications, working as the head designer for Mademoiselle magazine. The stylistic influences of Mademoiselle, a now-defunct women's magazine that dealt with the fashion, diet, and trend preoccupations of women in their 20s, can be seen in some of the parodic elements of Kruger's independent work, where she satirizes media portrayals of women, consumption, and beauty ("Barbara Kruger: Biography," 2005, PBS: Art 21).

Kruger moved on to work as the lead graphic designer, art director, and picture editor in the art departments of House and Garden and other magazine publications. Her background in magazine design is evident in the work for which she is now internationally renowned, as much of her work takes the form of apparently cut out images and words, transposed in unfamiliar arrangements and contexts, much like a magazine photo montage. As well as appearing in museums and galleries worldwide, Kruger's work has often appeared in incongruous settings, like a train station platform in Strasbourg, France. She has taught at the California Institute of Art, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the University of California, Berkeley. Kruger makes her home both in New York and Los Angeles ("Barbara Kruger: Biography," 2005, PBS: Art 21).

Discussion of the artist's overall 'theme' or interests

Kruger is often viewed as a feminist artist by her critics, because she makes use of popular cultural elements that deal with women, and rearranges these images in new and striking ways to encourage the viewer to think more deeply about his or her gender-based assumptions. "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," often with black letters against a slash of red background ("Barbara Kruger: Biography," 2005, PBS: Art 21). One of the most striking and controversial element of Kruger's art is its use of collage of images and words to create new art: "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" ("Barbara Kruger: Biography," 2005, PBS: Art 21).

Describe and evaluate one of the artist's works: title, material, size, year completed, subject matter, content, style

Untitled (Your Gaze Hits the Side of My Face) is a photograph dated 1981-1983 depicts a classical, Grecian bust of a beautiful woman's symmetrical head in white against a black background. The jagged words of the confrontational, angry subtitle of the work exist in photographic fragments against the side of the bust. The image is traditional, but the words are potentially inflammatory, as if the statue is speaking back to the gazing viewer. The words seemingly attempt to drive the viewer away, although the gaze of the bust is gentle. The viewer cannot escape the words, even while the viewer gazes at the head of the woman.

Discussion of the meaning of the work: What is the artist trying to say?