Barbara Kruger was born in Newark, New Jersey, 1945 as an only child. She studied at Syracuse University, Parsons School of Design, and the School of Visual Arts in New York and has been exhibited world-wide.

Below is a personal essay on Barbara Kruger.


Barbara Kruger

To begin with a quote by Juliana Engberg:
'Barbara Kruger's on going project is to provoke questions about power and its effect on the human condition: to investigate the way power is constructed, used and abused. In her works, which have become the demonstrative visual icons of the 1980s and 1990s, power is interrogated and interpreted through the social, economic and political arrangements which motor the life impulses of love, hate, sex and death.'

The first time I came across Barbara Kruger was while flipping through books and magazines searching for research materials for an art essay. Being a fan of thought-encouraging art and literature, and having done my own dabbling in collage of text with image, I was struck by the force of her work. For the years since discovering her work, I've searched for information about her and developed a great interest in her art.

Barbara Kruger's works are striking though some may claim simplistic. Mainly using the colours black, white, and red, she manipulates images and attaches words to prompt emotion. Some view her as only an artist, whereas others debate that she is a 'social commentator and a political agitator'. To me she is an artist who makes me question and wonder but I find it hard to fully describe the impact Barbara Kruger's art has on me personally.

On the political side of things Barbara Kruger uses her artwork to promote causes she believes in such as supporting legal abortion and fighting domestic violence. Also quite concerned with women's roles in society she has stated her desire to 'welcome the female spectator into the audience of men.'

Here are some quotes from BK's art:

Memory is your image of perfection
If you can't feel it, it must be real
I shop therefore I am
When I hear the word culture I take out my checkbook
Do I have to give up me to be loved by you?
You are not yourself

Barbara Kruger's work has been displayed in a variety of ways including exhibtions in art galleries, on billboards around the world, on t-shirts, shopping bags, matchboxes, television and more.

There was an exhibition in Melbourne in 1996 of some of her work. If I'd have had the money I would have flown down to see it. As a substitute, a friend brought me a copy of a book they were selling at the exhibition. I've added that to my Barbara Kruger collection with another book - Love for sale - and a few articles that I've snipped from here and there, and I hope that I will someday find myself in a city that is showing her work.

[The quotes and images used are from Love for sale - The Words and Pictures of Barbara Kruger and Barbara Kruger - Museum of Modern Art at Heide.]

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