Barbara Kruger's Art and Design
I shop therefore I am (1987) Barbara Kruger
Face It (Green) 2007 Barbara Kruger
- Describe the 'style' that Kruger has used in the two presented works.
She is a conceptual artist which is the idea or concept are the most important things in her work- that is her style to portray an idea in a bold way for people to get/understand what she is trying to get across. Her captions appear very opinionated and aggressive in a pop-art block style. She is into using only one main colour on a print such as green in ‘Face It’ and red in ‘I shop therefore I am.’ She collages black and white photographs mainly with bold captions overlaying the images.
- What are some of the concepts and messages that Kruger is communicating in them?
She is portraying materialism and how people believe that shopping or buying expensive things/wasting our money will make ‘us’ look rich, beautiful and superior to others. She is a feminist with very strong opinions and by artwork she has a voice communicating the trouble and naiveness with women today enforced by bad media portrayal of women and the expectance of what women desire, but do desire. The basic ideas she is communicating is there is many other things in life to worry about
- Do these images communicate these ideas effectively? Explain your answer.
To make things really stand out in these images she makes important words BIG and BOLD and she makes them attractive to read. It makes you understand or see what you have to face she draws you in. She uses pronouns to involve the audience or the viewers in the artworks to make us feel like we are getting told off or told what is right which creates an anxious feeling but well communicated because it is so direct and involves us.
- Define the concept of Mercantilism and explain how these two examples can connect with the concept.
Kruger uses her words as a way of power, to make people feel shame and to think twice about what they are doing with their money and lives. She strongly opinionated as you can see in her images and creates dead, bold statements that catches peoples eyes in the way that they want to look more into what she is saying. ‘I shop..therefore I am’ ‘Face it..the luxurious garment won’t make you rich or beautiful.’ These blunt statements are her way speaking the truth and getting it out there into people’s heads. She is making you aware and in a way it makes me feel a little stupid, and naive with things in the past that I too along with a lot of people have done and bought to make themselves feel that tad bit special, richer and cool. Her artworks above relate to mercantilism (a political and economic system that came about in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. It was the trade of increasing exports and getting precious metals in return.) because mercantilism was about a new way of gaining money and goods by trading with other countries, for material items such as gold, for a better social status and so you could keep the trading going to get more material things.
- Upload a more recent example of Kruger's work where she has used a new medium, that is not graphic design. Title your image of the chosen work and comment on your response to the work. How do you think the audience would experience this work?
Untitled - Chessboard (2006) Barbara Kruger
This is a very different piece from Kruger to make, she has done some installations but her main thing is 2D graphics. This piece is a talking chessboard which is something completely different but still conveys the same sort of aggressive messages and black red and white theme she has going on. The power of the talking chessboard creates a real voice and for people to hear, I think in hearing what is said on the chessboard and all over the chessboard box makes one feel guilty and unstable in the way that you realise the harshness in which you can talk to one another and manipulate one another which creates humans looking selfish and evil. None of her work is pointless or meaningless there is always something behind it or something that she is trying to get out to the public. Because this is such an interactive piece each piece that you move onto a different square says something, for an example ‘I’m tired’, distracting tactics in a loosing chess game. I feel that she is trying to show that it is not all about winning or loosing (loosing- representing the upset competitive face on the board.) in life it is about getting along and being able to be nice to one and other and leave behind the harsh words and evil ways we can treat or be to one another.
I agree with you when you explain how Kruger uses plain, bold text and images to get her point across strongly. I like how you have used the word "agressive" to describe her pop-art style. I completely agree with the idea that she uses themes of materialism and consumerism in a somewhat negative way, also. I find it interesting how you have linked back to the "agressive" style you mentioned in the first question when analysing the chess board. another interesting thing in your analysis is how you have looked at it in terms of winning and losing, as opposed to the themes which a number of other people have mentioned when analysing this piece that involve consumerism and similar themes in some way, which would be the first obvious theme to look for after getting familiar with Kruger's earlier work. I don't think very many people would pick up on the themes you have brought up in the chess board, however I do think they are still valid.
ReplyDeletei didn't really understand his ideas. but after reading this it gave me a better understanding of what his work was about. "i shop therefore i am" and "face it" these phrases didnt relly speak to me as a designer but i guess reading this blog gave me a deeper understanding of what kruger's work means.the idea of how the phrase "i shop therefore i am" is related to mercantilism and is very interesting and how it connects to the concepts of Mercantilism as it shows ‘we’ as consumers and when the viewer reads it, they can relate to idea of how shopping and what we buy and wear or eat defines a person.
ReplyDeletei like the way you described barbara kruger as a conceptual artist i agree that this fits her style of her work best and just from this word it tells me about her self and what her personality is like . I think you gave a well written description for question one, describing the pieces of work it was clear and gave me a rough idea of what her style of contemporary artwork is like . "shes is a feminist with very strong opinions" i agree on what you have stated in this description of her self in question two.
ReplyDeleteI like the way Diane Kruger has a very distinctive design style (for example the red and white with the writing) which is easily recognizable and is iconic with her work. I think that it is a great idea as a designer to find a design or medium in which you are confident in and can develop and improve on over time.
ReplyDeleteI also think it is a very well written description of her design style and also think that her strong opinions as a female are very inspiring and show up the feminist movement.
I really like barbara Kruger's art work and designs they are very eye catching and always amake you think about what she is trying to say. I find they the message that she is putting out about faminism and also the point about 'shopping or buying expensive things/wasting our money will make ‘us’ look rich, beautiful and superior to others' very interesting to read and think about.
ReplyDeleteIts amazing how Barbara Kruger has such a unique style that catches your attention but at the same makes you stand still and think about the messages she is trying to convey . We are bombarded everyday with people trying to sell us material items, but when we really step back and look at our lives and what we are buying, are they truly necessary? are these things we need or are they just items we want. fashions come and go and we are always pushed to keep up with them.
ReplyDeleteI like the way she uses text in her work. They are very bold and stand out. Very attractive and hard to miss,the background she also uses, brings out the texts, for e.g, Red background, Black or White text. Everything comes together really well. Her use of females as her main subjects conveys clear ideas of her views about the materialistic side of women. The majority of her work that consists of feminist views is also quite good educationally, as we learn important ways to live our lives in happiness. It was interesting to read your blog and find that we agree on the same things said about krugers work. :)
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