Conceptual art dealing with the circulation of power and criticism of sexism are the trademark and visually recognizable signature of American collage artist Barbara Kruger. She is famous for her layered photographs that challenge society’s view of consumerism and feminine exploitation and manipulation in the market economy. This view was exemplified by Formula One racing chief Bernie Ecclestone who once said ”you know I’ve got one of those wonderful ideas…women should be dressed in white like all the other domestic appliances.”
Essentially, her background in graphic design and picture editing is incorporated in her art on feminism, consumerism, and the circulation of power in dealing with the individual’s quest for autonomy and desire.Kruger appropriates the techniques of Madison Avenue in her ”objectification of oppression”, but subversively inverts the content through a juxtaposition of form complemented by provocative text. Instead of selling products she sells ideological critique which blurs the boundary between high art and mass media.
In Kruger’s work the rhetoric of the classic images are fractured, creating a grey zone, an ambiguous terrain between popular culture, art and cultural criticism. The recycling of imagery and objects within new contexts lent itself to Kruger branding her art onto t-shirts, buttons and posters in the 1970′s and 1980′s, going even further than Andy Warhol in this regard.
”These humorous works suspend the viewer between the fascination of the image and the indictment of the text while reminding us that language and its use within culture to construct and maintain proverbs, jokes, myths, and history reinforce the interests and perspective of those who control it.” Something akin to history is written by the winners.
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