Barbara Kruger is a contemporary artist well known for her use of text and images. She started off in the late 1960s and 70s creating work reclaiming "craft" as a part of the feminist movement using materials that had long been marginalized. After she went to teach at UC Berkley, she started to gravitate toward words. In the late 1970s, she self published a book juxtaposing text and images. She would put a photo on one page and write a small poem or phrase on the page next to it. Her work really started to take off in the 1980s as she created bold graphic works in black, white and red overlaying text on found images. Her work speaks to how labels can define who we are and who we aren't as well as confronting the viewer very directly. The next evolution of her work came in the 1990s as she shifted from creating loud images to immersive installations that were viewers could not escape these messages. The text and image were no longer just out there in the gallery space, the text and images were the space.
Some related episodes:

Barabara Kruger | Don't Be a Jerk (full episode with Jen Leban)

Bisa Butler | The Safety Patrol

Faith Ringgold | Dancing at the Louvre

Arts Madness Tournament links:

Check out the Brackets

Tell me which artist you think will win this year's tournament

Give a shoutout to your favorite teacher (I'll send a $50 Amazon gift card to the teacher who gets the most shoutouts on this form by Feb 27)


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