BARBARA KRUGER
American
Barbara Kruger’s 1993 reflection—‘‘I had to figure
out how to bring the world into my work’’—suc-
cinctly captures the socially engaged language and
ethical-political dimensions that have characterized
her art works from their beginnings in the early
1970s. She also alludes to the fact that her works
commonly appear in sites other than art galleries
and museums and thus is able to reach a broader
audience: billboards and other public placements,
newspaper pages, magazine and book covers, t-
shirts, and matchbooks, among them. Her emer-
gence coincided with that of other artists influenced
by post-structuralist theory and semiotics, as well
as the contemporary art movements Conceptual-
ism and Feminism. Her peer group included Dara
Birnbaum, Mary Kelly, Cindy Sherman, and Vic-
tor Burgin. These artists shared a common interest
in photography from popular culture and media;
others of this generation like Kruger, became
known for their practice of ‘‘appropriation’’ or sca-
venging of pre-existing images, including Richard
Prince, Sherrie Levine, and Ross Bleckner. These
engagements, or interrogations of photography,
challenged prevailing fine art and documentary
photography traditions. These artists’ works criti-
cally engaged how forms of power were related to
visual images, and how media culture was exerting
increased social and public influence. Kruger’s
overriding theme is to play with contemporary
stereotypes and cliche ́s, using the iconic power of
selected images as a point of departure.
Kruger’s experience as a graphic designer was
critical to her artistic development both in the
forms her work takes and her desire to address the
popular audience. Kruger was born in Newark,
New Jersey, in 1945. After graduating from Wee-
quahic High School, she attended Syracuse Univer-
sity, New York, majoring in art, from 1964–1965;
and then went on to Parsons School of Design, New
York, from 1965–1966, where she studied photo-
graphy with Diane Arbus, and the graphic designer,
painter, and former art director ofHarper’s Bazaar,
Marvin Israel. In 1966, Kruger began working as a
designer at Mademoiselle magazine, where she
became senior designer until 1970; she continued
for many years to be a freelance picture editor
withHouse and GardenandAperture.
Kruger’s earliest works were fiber-based hangings
with mixed media such as paint, glitter, and ribbons.
These pieces were exhibited in New York at the
Whitney Museum of American Art 1973 Biennial,
and at Artists Space in 1974. In 1979, Kruger began
using photography, and self-publishedPicture/Read-
ings, which along with other series,Hospital, Public
Sector/Private Space,andRemainders. These works
took the form of photo/texts; initially she took her
own black-and-white and color photos and authored
her own, sometimes extensive, texts. The rephoto-
graphing of found images collaged with concise
texts began in 1978 withUntitled (Business),and
subsequentUntitled (Perfect), 1980, andUntitled
(Deluded), 1980, which initiated the pared down
plays and contrasts between word and image that
are so distinctive to her work. WithUntitled (Your
comfort is my silence),1981,andUntitled (Your gaze
hitsthesideofmyface), 1981, Kruger began framing
her works in vibrant red lacquer, as well as employ-
ing Futura bold italic fonts, in texts that had a
directness of address that have become her signature
style. Her participation in Documenta VII, Kassel,
Germany, and the Venice Biennial, both in 1982, and
the 1983 Whitney Biennial, coincided with her entry
into the commercial gallery system, with Larry
Gagosian Gallery in Los Angeles in 1982, Annina
Nosei Gallery in New York from 1983–1986, and
then as the first woman artist with the Mary Boone
Gallery beginning in 1986.
During this period she was active in placing
works on billboards and buses, and realized public
projects in Providence, Rhode Island; Minneapolis,
Minnesota; and Atlanta, Georgia. In the late
1980s, she mounted billboard projects in Australia,
and was active with the group Art Against Aids
and lent her talents to other public health issues. In
addition, Kruger has, since the 1970s, been active
as a teacher, curator, and writer/critic. She began
writing her column on television and popular cul-
ture, ‘‘Remote Control,’’ as well as other commen-
taries and reviews forArtforumin 1979; Remote
Control was assembled as a book in 1993. The
multiple sites of exhibition and formats of display
for her art works, her various contributions as aKRUGER, BARBARA