Barbara Kruger (b. 1945) is a photographer and guerilla artist from the United States. She was an influential art director and image developer at Mademoiselle Magazine.

Much of Kruger's graphic work consists of black-and-white photographs with overlaid captions set in white-on-red Futura Bold Oblique. The phrases included in her work are usually declarative, and make common use of such pronouns as "you," "I," "we," and "they." Her creations are often critical of sexism and misogyny. For the past decade Kruger has created installations comprised of video, film, audio and projection. Enveloping the viewer with the seductions of direct address, her work is consistently about the kindnesses and brutalities of social life: about how we are to one another.

Barbara Kruger is from Newark, New Jersey and left there in 1964 to attend Parsons School of Design, where “Kruger was fortunate to have Diane Arbus and Marvin Israel as teachers”(Linker 13). The main influence that Kruger got from Parsons was from Israel. As a graphic designer and art director for Harper's Bazaar in the 1960s, he introduced her to many photographers and made her familiar with fashion.

Kruger's works are direct and evoke an immediate response. Usually her style involves the cropping of a magazine or newspaper image enlarged in black and white. The enlargement of the image is done as crudely as possible to monumental proportions. A message is stenciled on the image, usually in white letters against a background of red. The text and image are unrelated in an effort to create anxiety by the audience that plays on the fears of society. (Janson, p. 992).

In 2005 Kruger was honored at the 51st Venice Biennale with the "Golden Lion" for Lifetime Achivement

Kruger is currently a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles

Books

• Barbara Kruger: 7 January to 28 January 1989, by Barbar Kruger, Mary Boone Gallery, 1989
• Barbara Kruger: 5 January to 26 January 1991, by Barbara Kruger, 1991
• Remote Control: Power, Cultures, and the World of Appearances by Barbara Kruger, 1994
• Love for Sale, by Kate Linker, 1996
• Remaking History (Discussions in Contemporary Culture , No 4) by Barbara Kruger, 1998
• Barbara Kruger, by Angela Vettese, 2002
• Money Talks by Barbara Kruger and Lisa Phillips, 2005

Film and Video

• ‘’Barbara Kruger ^* : Pictures and Words ‘’ by Paul Tschinkel; Kate Linker; Peter Schjedldahl. 1996, 28 minutes, Color. NY: Inner-Tube Video.

External links

• A fan website, barbarakruger.com
• Kruger collection at the Broad Art Foundation
• A criticism page, with images
• A tribute site, with images
• A 2004 exhibition at the Mary Boone Gallery
• A humorous style guide for Kruger-like designs
• ^* Venice Biennale Awards Kruger

References

• Janson, H.W., Janson, Anthony F. History of Art. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers. 6 edition. January 1, 2005. ISBN 0131828959
• Linker, Kate. Love For Sale: Words and Pictures of Barbara Kruger. New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc., 1996.

1945 births | American photographers | Art directors | Feminists | Feminist artists | Living people | Magazine editors | Postmodern artists | Women in art

Barbara Kruger | Barbara Kruger | Barbara Kruger

See also

• Jenny Holzer

• Martin Firrell