Design Discourse 2012: Barbara Kruger

She was born in Newark, New Jersey, 26 January, 1945. She is an American conceptual artist. She attended to Syracuse University; the school of visual art and studied art and design with Dian Arbus, Marvin Israel at parson’s school of Design in New York.

She obtained a design and art job at Conde Nast Publications. First she worked at Mademoiselle Magazine and after that she worked as a graphic designer, Art director, and picture editor in the art departments at House and Garden, Aperture and other publications.

She is must famous for the black and white strong images with flashing red background with pithy and aggressive text that involves the viewer in the struggle for power and control that her captions speak to.

The main core of part of Kruger works is containing criticism of sexism and the circulation of power with in cultures. Some of her text questions the viewer about feminism desire and consumerism.

The text in her works of the 1980s includes such phrases as

“Your comfort is my silence” (1981)

“You invest in the divinity of the masterpiece” (1982)

“I shop therefore I am” (1987)

Also she has said “I work with pictures and words because they have the ability to determine who we are and who we aren’t”.