Barbara Kruger

Barbara Kruger (born 1945) is an American conceptual artist. She was born in Newark, New Jersey and left there in 1964 to attend Syracuse University. After a year at Syracuse, she moved to New York, where she began attending Parsons School of Design. She studied with Diane Arbus and Marvin Israel, who, as a graphic designer and art director for Harper's Bazaar in the 1960s, introduced Kruger to photographers and fashion/magazine sub-cultures. After a year at Parsons, Kruger left school and started to work at Mademoiselle magazine as an entry-level designer.

Much of Kruger's graphic work consists of black-and-white photographs with overlaid captions set in white-on-red Futura Bold Oblique. The phrases included in her work are usually declarative, and make common use of such pronouns as "you," "I," "we," and "they." The juxtaposition of Kruger's imagery with text containing criticism of sexism and misogyny and the circulation of power within cultures is a recurring motif in the work.

For the past decade Kruger has created installations of video, film, audio and projection. Enveloping the viewer with the seductions of direct address, her work is consistently about the kindnesses and brutalities of social life: about how we are to one another.

:"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." (Janson, p. 992).

In 2005 Kruger was honored at the 51st Venice Biennale with the "Golden Lion" for Lifetime Achievement. Kruger is currently a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles.

In 2007, Kruger was one of the women artists to be a part of South Korea's Incheon Women Artists' Biennale in Seoul. This marked South Korea's first women's biennial. [citation | title= South Korea Kicks off First Women's Biennial | publisher=ARTINFO | year=2007 | date= November 6, 2007| url= http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/26010/south-korea-kicks-off-first-womens-biennial/ | accessdate=2008-04-16 ]

Books

* "Barbara Kruger: 7 January to 28 January 1989", by Barbara Kruger, Mary Boone Gallery, 1989
* "Barbara Kruger: 5 January to 26 January 1991", by Barbara Kruger, 1991
* "Remote Control: Power, Cultures", and the World of Appearances by Barbara Kruger, 1994
* "Love for Sale", by Kate Linker, 1996
* "Remaking History (Discussions in Contemporary Culture, No 4)" by Barbara Kruger, 1998
* "Thinking of You", 1999 (The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles)
* "Barbara Kruger", by Angela Vettese, 2002
* "Money Talks" by Barbara Kruger and Lisa Phillips, 2005
* "Barbara Kruger"

Film and Video

* "Pleasure, Pain, Desire, Disgust". 1997
* "Twelve". 2004

References

* Janson, H.W., Janson, Anthony F. "History of Art". Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers. 6 edition. January 1, 2005. ISBN 0-13-182895-9
*Linker, Kate. Love For Sale: Words and Pictures of Barbara Kruger. New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc., 1996.

External links

* [http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/kruger/ Biography, interviews, essays, artwork images and video clips] from PBS series "" - Season 1 (2001).
* [http://www.barbarakruger.com/index.php A fan website] , barbarakruger.com
* [http://www.broadartfoundation.org/collection/kruger.html Kruger collection] at the Broad Art Foundation
* [http://www.eng.fju.edu.tw/Literary_Criticism/feminism/kruger/kruger.htm A criticism page] , with images
* [http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Cafe/9747/kruger.html A tribute site] , with images
* [http://www.consumedaily.com/img/kruger.html A humorous style guide] for Kruger-like designs
* [http://www.labiennale.org/en/news/art/en/4256.html Venice Biennale Awards Kruger]
* [http://www.artfacts.net/index.php/pageType/artistInfo/artist/6683/lang/1 "Current exhibitions and connection to galeries at Artfacts.Net" ]
* [http://swindlemagazine.com/issueicons/barbara-kruger/ SWINDLE Magazine Interview]