Barbara Kruger

Barbara Kruger (born January 26, 1945) is an American conceptual artist and collagist, inspired by russian constructivism. 

Much of her work consists of black-and-white photographs overlaid with declarative captions—in white-on-red Futura Bold Oblique or Helvetica Ultra Condensed. 

The phrases in her works often include pronouns such as "you", "your", "I", "we", and "they", addressing cultural constructions of power, identity, and sexuality.

Kruger's first dealer was Gagosian Gallery, with which she did two shows in Los Angeles in the early 1980s. 

Much of Kruger's work pairs found photographs with pithy and assertive text that challenges the viewer. Her method includes developing her ideas on a computer, later transferring the results (often billboard-sized) into images.

Examples of her instantly recognizable slogans read “I shop therefore I am,” and “Your body is a battleground," appearing in her trademark white letters against a red background. Much of her text calls attention to ideas such as feminism, consumerism, and individual autonomy and desire, frequently appropriating images from mainstream magazines and using her bold phrases to frame them in a new context.

Kruger has said that "I work with pictures and words because they have the ability to determine who we are and who we aren’t."A larger category that threads through her work is the appropriation and alteration of existing images. In describing her use of appropriation, Kruger states: Pictures and words seem to become the rallying points for certain assumptions. There are assumptions of truth and falsity and I guess the narratives of falsity are called fictions. I replicate certain words and watch them stray from or coincide with the notions of fact and fiction.

Supreme, a skateboard and apparel brand established in 1994, have been accused of taking their logo, the white word “Supreme” on a red box, from Kruger’s signature style. James Jebbia, founder of Supreme, has admitted that the logo was taken from Barbara Kruger’s work. Barbara herself had not commented on this issue until a recent lawsuit between Supreme and Leah McSweeney, founder of Married to the Mob (MTTM), a women’s street clothing brand. MTTM used the Supreme logo to make a “Supreme Bitch” logo that was printed on T-shirts and hats.

Kruger commented “What a ridiculous clusterfuck of totally uncool jokers. I make my work about this kind of sadly foolish farce. I’m waiting for all of them to sue me for copyright infringement.” Eventually the lawsuits were dropped on agreement that McSweeney could continue to use the words “Supreme Bitch” if it was "not in the way Barbara Kruger does."

Current exhibitions:

JOSEPH K. LEVENE FINE ART, LTD.

Aug 11th – Nov 28th

New York, 25 Central Park West

HIRSHHORN MUSEUM AND SCULPTURE GARDEN

Aug 20th, 2016 – Dec 31st, 2017

Washington, 700 Independence Ave SW