Barbara Kruger’s Conceptual Power

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Authors

  • Ginger Bartush Midwestern State University

Keywords:

Barbara Kruger, fine art, art, postmodern

Abstract

Barbara Kruger is a postmodern, conceptual artist who uses large mediums and commercial items in her art. She highlights controversial issues, such as sexuality, gender, identity, and consumerism. Understanding how her two pieces, Untitled (I shop therefore I am) (1987) and Untitled (Your gaze hits the side of my face) (1981), commentate on these topics in relation to rhetoric, offers an interesting perspective. This perspective helps us investigate how she captures America’s postmodern, consumer culture through appropriation and uses rhetoric and visual representation to address issues of gender and identity. The paper looks at the aesthetics of each art piece, relating the visual details to her main idea, and then views Kruger’s styles and meanings from a historical, theoretical, and feminist standpoint. The artist uses a simple color scheme: black, white, grey, and red. She takes appropriated images and puts words on top of them, which brings in a rhetorical aspect, making it conceptual. We then view these fascinating concepts through the historical lens of the 1980s and Jean Bauldrillard’s theories of consumerism from his book, Simulacra and Simulation. Then the paper brings the gender topics/issues to the forefront before comparing Kruger’s artistic rhetorical aspects to feminist rhetorical practices. Barbara Kruger’s artwork embodies important concepts and asks important questions that continue to be discussed by society presently and will continue to be discussed in the future. Therefore, we must always analyze Kruger’s artwork if we desire to understand our personal perspectives concerning the real subjects in our lives.   Faculty Mentor: Dr. Ann Marie Leimer

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Published

2018-06-30

Issue

Section

Arts