Barbara Kruger

Barbara is an American feminist, who is most famous for her slogan artwork. Her works usually involve taking a found image (generally black and white) from somewhere like a magazine, and then placing bold and bright text over it. This text is usually fairly aggressive/straight to the point and clearly delivers the message she intends.

This is one of the main reasons why I like her work, because unlike a lot of artists who try to represent their meaning through such an obscure method that it rarely gets received the way they intended, Barbara’s work is very clear and straight to the point. She sends a message, and we receive it, thanks to her clear use of words. As she said “Words are powerful, and we speak them every moment, so why not exercise that medium.” (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/egg/217/kruger/interview_content_1.html, no date)
There’s an argument about whether her work is actually art, or just graphic design, but the real questions is why can’t graphic design be art?

Reference list:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/egg/217/kruger/interview_content_1.html (no date) (Accessed 23^rd April 2012)