I shop therefore I am (1987) Barbara Kruger
Face It (Green) 2007 Barbara Kruger
Barbara Kruger has been described as a feminist, conceptual and a pop artist.
Her work reflects her interest in graphic design, photography, poetry and writing.
Research Kruger's work in order to answer the following questions;
1. Describe the 'style' that Kruger has used in the two presented works.
2. What are some of the concepts and messages that Kruger is communicating in them?
3. Do these images communicate these ideas effectively? Explain your answer.
4. Define the concept of Mercantillism and explain how these two examples can connect with the concept.
5. 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?
1. In these two works, Kruger has used a pop art style. They both feature relatively simple images, with bold, plain-font text surrounded by white boxes. Putting the text in white boxes rather than having them sitting just over the background image, attention is drawn to them before the images.
2. In I shop therefore I am, Kruger is conveying a message regarding and the stereotypical view that women had of themselves in the 1980s, i.e. that they shopped, and that was what they identified with. Kruger isn't using this statement with positive connotations, this image is representing how a "predominantly male media" has constructed this view that women of the 1980s had of themselves.
In Face It (Green), Kruger has used a close up image of a part of an item of clothing with a label that reads: "This luxurious garment won't make you rich or beautiful." Over this, she has placed the words: "Face It" in bold, black text. I think that she is trying to convey a message about consumerism and the affect it has on people's view of themselves, i.e. that if they wear expensive clothing, they will appear more wealthy and high class to others. However the text on the clothing reading: "This luxurious item of clothing won't make you rich or beautiful" suggests otherwise. It suggests that even though you wear/own expensive products, you will still be exactly the same person as if you bought inexpensive products.
3. I feel that Kruger has been partially successful in conveying the ideas in I Shop, Therefore I am, in that she has portrayed the idea of identifying with what you do through the use of the text:, however I think that the idea of feminism is somewhat vague because there isn't anything in the image that directly relates to feminism in a big way, there is just a hand which could really belong to anyone, which doesn't connect the image that the text creates specifically to females.
Kruger has been successful in communicating the ideas behind Face It, because she has clearly defined the message she is trying to convey and used appropriate images and text in the work. The words "Face it" clearly tell the viewer that there is something to be realized, and by looking at the image behind the text shows the item of clothing, which represents the idea of consumerism. The idea of how expensive and luxurious consumer products don't actually change who a person is, is communicated well through the label of the clothing, which has been positioned right in the center of the piece to draw attention to it even though it is quite small in relation to everything else. The text on the label is what conveys this idea by simply pointing out "this luxurious garment won't make you rich or beautiful" meaning just because you are wearing a really expensive piece of clothing, you are still exactly the same person on the inside.
4. Mercantilism is "economic nationalism for the purpose of building a wealthy and powerful state." this means that countries would restrict importation, and encourage exportation to stimulate the country's economy. These to examples connect to this theme in that they both have an underlying theme of consumerism, which is what mercantilism is based on. Face it is connected to the idea of mercantilism in that is agreeing with the idea of restricted importation. I have come to the conclusion that it agrees with this idea because a large majority of expensive, high-end products are imported, and the text: "This luxurious garment won't make you rich or beautiful" implies that such products aren't necessary in everyday life.
 |
| "Whitney on site" |
5. I find the way Kruger has set this piece up quite interesting, because of the way all the different elements and surfaces work together, in particular, the tops of the three buildings feature the text: "Belief + Doubt = Sanity" which has been divided into one word per roof, I like how the gaps in between the buildings almost act as lines on paper, making it look a lot more uniform. I think that the audience would experience the work in a much different way depending on their point of view, for example if they were walking through the installation on the ground, they would only be taking in the individual messages in each piece of text, as opposed to viewing it from a similar view to the view shown above, then they would be absorbing all the pieces of text at once and taking in a whole new message, or maybe even just all the individual messages at once.
Sources:
- http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Mercantilism.html
- http://ct4ct.com/index.php?title=Barbara_Kruger
