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15 April 2009 | |
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Barbara Kruger @ Skarstedt I know there's mixed feelings about Barbara Kruger in the artworld. Some people think her work is dated and was only marginally relevant, which I don't entirely disagree with. I think it's more relevant than some people want to give her credit for, though, especially in the context of the current show up at Skarsstedt Gallery entitled Pre-digital 1980 - 1992, which puts into context where Kruger came from in terms of her professional background, her methodology, and the time period. These works, professionally known as "paste-ups," share a methodology derived from Kruger's experience as an editorial designer at various magazines. However, the meanings they create are worlds away from the decorative delusions that fill the magazines. Her ability to construct powerful messages using an inherently commercial technique focuses attention on how images and words have the power to make meaning: to construct who we are and who we want to be. In Thinking of You, Steven Heller states, "...her work resonates for its audacity in attacking assumptions of power as much for transforming, through her choice of public address, the essence of art itself." These works, all forty-four of which were created before the wide spread use of digital imagery, vary in size but are no larger than 11 x 13 inches. They are composed of altered images from the media and texts, which work to transform those images, both visually and conceptually. A negative of the works was then produced and used to make enlarged versions of these initial "paste ups". The exhibition of these intimately scaled artworks explores a unique stage of Kruger's career. To see these well known images in this smaller scale invites a renewed focus on her use of "direct address" and how it has threaded through her production: from these enlargement-ready images to billboards, matchbooks, t-shirts and, over the last 15 years, to large scale video installations and public works that critically engage the notions of the "public" and site specificity. Read more on the gallery's site and see images of the works in the show. You're gonna have to act quickly too: the show goes down Saturday! Pre-digital 1980 – 1992 |
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