Barbara Kruger Research
Matt Landry
Artist Statement on Barbara Kruger
Big6 Art Project
Barbara Kruger, born January 26th, 1945, was a graphic designer with an impressive conceptual grasp on mass media and the art of interpretation that got her to become the voice of the generation. Feminists and artists alike have raved over what some call overly simple, mainly black and white images with words in Futura Bold Italic that can twist the interpretation of the image itself.
Kruger took pictures that had a near lack-of-depth, and by placing ironic words or statements on these images she challenged all possible cultural assumptions of that image. Kruger used techniques she learned in going to school for graphic design and being the head graphic designer at Mademoiselle magazine to create commentary on religion, sex, racial and gender stereotypes, corporate greed, and consumerism through her political, feminist and social provocations. My favorite part of Kruger’s work is that there’s no actual interpretation of any of her work, each piece can be interpreted in different ways, while still provoking thoughts on touchy subjects; “I work with pictures and words because they have the ability to determine who we are and who we aren’t.” Barbara Kruger, 1/30/2011, on interpretation. My original piece using the styles of Barbara Kruger, I took a quote from one of Kruger’s pieces and placed it on an image I found. As it is in Kruger’s style, there is no actual interpretation, but I used many aspects that may strike up thought and I’ll explain the process I used to create the piece. Using a simple black-and-white image of a smiling man on the coast, I took a quote from one of her exhibits in the Hamptons, and “recontextualized” it; such as she did for so many pieces. I believe my piece can be interpreted as a commentary on social hierarchy, using the quote; “Money makes Money, and a rich man’s jokes are always funny.” While covering the identity of the smiling man in the photograph, but as
Artist Statement on Barbara Kruger
Big6 Art Project
Barbara Kruger, born January 26th, 1945, was a graphic designer with an impressive conceptual grasp on mass media and the art of interpretation that got her to become the voice of the generation. Feminists and artists alike have raved over what some call overly simple, mainly black and white images with words in Futura Bold Italic that can twist the interpretation of the image itself.
Kruger took pictures that had a near lack-of-depth, and by placing ironic words or statements on these images she challenged all possible cultural assumptions of that image. Kruger used techniques she learned in going to school for graphic design and being the head graphic designer at Mademoiselle magazine to create commentary on religion, sex, racial and gender stereotypes, corporate greed, and consumerism through her political, feminist and social provocations. My favorite part of Kruger’s work is that there’s no actual interpretation of any of her work, each piece can be interpreted in different ways, while still provoking thoughts on touchy subjects; “I work with pictures and words because they have the ability to determine who we are and who we aren’t.” Barbara Kruger, 1/30/2011, on interpretation. My original piece using the styles of Barbara Kruger, I took a quote from one of Kruger’s pieces and placed it on an image I found. As it is in Kruger’s style, there is no actual interpretation, but I used many aspects that may strike up thought and I’ll explain the process I used to create the piece. Using a simple black-and-white image of a smiling man on the coast, I took a quote from one of her exhibits in the Hamptons, and “recontextualized” it; such as she did for so many pieces. I believe my piece can be interpreted as a commentary on social hierarchy, using the quote; “Money makes Money, and a rich man’s jokes are always funny.” While covering the identity of the smiling man in the photograph, but as
Bibliography: - http://www.thethirdray.com/conceptual-art/the-best-art-can-happen-by-accident-barbara-kruger-and-the-end-of-plenty/ - http://www.rogallery.com/Kruger_Barbara/kruger-biography.html - http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/kruger_barbara.html http://varoregistry.org/kruger/index.html