WebWork 7: Barbara Kruger

• Barbara Kruger is a feminist American conceptual/pop artist who was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1945.
• Early on she developed an interest in graphic design, poetry, and writing.
• In 1965 she attended Parsons School of Design in New York, and studied with Diane Arbus and Martin Israel, who introduced her to other photographers and fashion/magazine sub-cultures.
• Kruger took up photography in 1977, and produced a black-and-white series of details of architectural exteriors mixed with her own introspections in text form.  This series was published as an artist's book, Picture/Readings, in 1979.
• By 1979 though, she stopped taking photographs and started collaging, with found images and her own text commentary.
• Barbara Kruger's style usually is comprised of black-and-white photographs with captions of white-on-red Futura Bold Oblique.  These phrases are usually bold statements that question the viewer about things like feminism, classicism, consumerism, and individual freedom and desire.
• I have always liked Barbara Kruger's work, because (1) you can clearly see her voice in her artwork, (2) she mixes medias together! and (3), she really draws attention to important/controversial things like politics, power, greed, feminism, religion, sex, race and gender stereotypes, and consumerism! 

 Quotes:
 
"I have no complaints, except for the world." - Barbara Kruger.
 
"All the gossip and craziness becomes a kind of sustained narrative which, in turn, can become history. It's scary." - Barbara Kruger.

"Direct address has been a consistent tactic in my work, regardless of the medium that I'm working in." - Barbara Kruger. 

"I mean, making art is about objectifying your experience of the world, transforming the flow of moments into something visual, or textual, or musical, whatever. Art creates a kind of commentary." - Barbara Kruger.
 
"I think I developed language skills to deal with threat. It's the girl thing to do-you know, instead of pulling out a gun." - Barbara Kruger.