Kruger, "Surveillance", and Interpretation

I found both Barrett and Linker's texts to be far more explanatory and gave greater context to Barbara Kruger's conceptual art pieces. With Barrett, I especially appreciated the way the interpretation of a photograph can be broken down, as the author stressed toward the end of the article that interpretation of art is a collective endeavor, a compilation of thoughts from diverse groups of people. Looking at Kruger's works, it's not necessarily about the aesthetic quality. Like in "Surveillance", the strong moral, accusatory tone of the typeface is what keeps you thinking way past you've seen the image. I was enlightened when Linker delved into the fact that today, coercion is "effected less through submission than through receivership" (29). Kruger acknowledges this fact by appropriating some of the millions of mass media images that are thrown at us each day and intends to "intercept the stereotype, to suspend the identification afforded by the gratification of the image (29). I chose this image, that isn't by Barbara Kruger but an artist named Eliza whose last name I couldn't find. The message is strong, though, especially since it's pertaining to such an American beauty, film, and fashion icon Marilyn Monroe. In an image of forced elatedness, the text contradicts and says in many forms that this women, this ideal of a woman, is not enough. "Not nothing enough" is case and point; With mass media, people never have "enough" of something. What that something is, is up to the advertiser. -Annie Schmid