Barbara Kruger

Barbara Kruger uses many different techniques to get her messages across.  Terry Barrett’s writing has shown me how to start interpreting Kruger’s work for myself . Through my readings about Kruger I can assuming that there are moral messages that she is trying to convey.  Similar to how Barrett criticizes “Surveillance,” I will try to take a deeper look at what Kruger was trying to convey in “Want Me”. For the artwork that I chose, she uses different kinds of popular culture like most of her other artwork.  Just like “Surveillance” this artwork is also very close up. This woman looks familiar because Kruger specifically uses it in order to get viewers thinking about a deeper meaning.  The woman looks like a young desirable girl which many men wish for.  Kruger has taken this woman and made her look as though a president would on money.  The young woman depicted as a president may represent two of the desires of many men.  The text says “WANT ME” very clearly.  This texts covers the whole entire picture showing how strongly some people desire these material and sexual things.  Of course I cannot be sure what the internal, original and external contexts of the pictures mean because this is my own interpretation of Kruger’s work.  Artwork has a vast number of different meanings to each individual viewer. That is why I have discussed only my interpretation of her artwork.  In five years I will most likely have a completely different view on her work.  It is actually quite possible that my views will change before this Interdisciplinary Arts class is over. This may be why Kruger’s art is very popular. It conveys messages and pictures that can mean so many different things to each separate person.