After reading the two articles that look at Barbara Kruger’s artwork, I realized how awesome of an artist she is. I have never heard of her, so learning about her history and why she makes the art she does was interesting. The author of Love for Sale discusses that Kruger sees power as diverse and exhibiting itself in a multiplicity of sites, not just in a localized area (p. 27). This is a very Foucauldian perspective of power, and as a philosophy major I have read and agree with a lot of what Foucault says regarding the mechanisms of power.
Some of the pictures that I really enjoyed of Kruger’s work was the one that reads “God Said It, I Believe It, And That Settles It”. I think this is a very thought provoking piece about whether or not we are thinking critically about what we believe, or just accepting it (i.e. blindly following a religion). I also liked the picture of somebody with a shopping bag with the words “I shop therefore I am”. This is another interesting piece in that it critiques the consumerism of our society. If we are really honest with ourselves, a lot of people’s existence centers around ‘shopping’ (i.e. we want a good job so we can buy nice things, we work more often to afford nicer things, tec.). Our entire life actually seems to boil down to consumption.
In terms of the themes that Kruger incorporates into her work, I was very excited to hear about the way in which she incorporates psychoanalytical theories (such as Freud) and her feminist ideologies. The article describes how Kruger directs art to the way in which representations (of women) position women as objects of the male gaze. This is something interesting to consider. I am currently watching Mad Men, a show set in the 1960s and the women were definitely objects of male gaze (and not much more). I think we need to ask ourselves whether anything has really changed since then or whether women are still
I just started watching Mad Men, too, and I was relating the images Kruger was using to the kind of advertising we see watching the show. When you see advertisements today, women STILL are (for the most part) in what our society thinks of as their ideal condition: perfect hair, body, skin, etc. Of course, the exception is when there is an IMperfection and that's the focus of the ad- to "fix" that imperfection. Kruger used images like that to mock, and to me, even point out how pathetic or ridiculous the attempts ad agencies make to sell a product and make people feel the need to buy something.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it's really interesting the way Kruger uses some Freudian theory in her art. It is a way to take something that people may know or have learned about and present it in a different way. This technique makes me question some of the ideas that I hold to be true.
ReplyDelete"God Said It, I Believe It, And That Settles It” says a lot about people in today's society. It reminds me of how crazy religious institutions are. I think a lot of art focuses on how hypocritical religion is. You talk about consumerism and i think even religion has become revolved around consumerism. The major religious institutions are now advertising and become a part of the marketing world. This is because there is a whole religious market. People can buy into any religion they choose. They are not simply born into one, they have the option of choosing.
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