Barbara Kruger's strategic role in post-modern art resurfaces Dissertation

Barbara Kruger's strategic role in post-modern art resurfaces - Dissertation Example The study "Barbara Kruger's strategic role in post-modern art resurfaces " discovers the influence of Barbara Kruger on modern art. Kruger proved to be a powerful force in having challenged the long established conventions, typecasts and traditional practices of society. Through her works she established a strong link between the popular photographs of the 1940s and 1950s by including the public spaces that people are exposed to in their everyday lives. By conceptualizing the conflict and tension latent within theses spaces, Kruger is able to strike an alarming irony through unmasking the violence that disturbs space. The main force for these works revolves around the notion that power, and thus violence, is what propels the splitting of the external to create the internal; space. Kruger argues that space is not an area of freedom but a ‘closed interior’. By shedding light on the external and excluded items submerged underneath what we see in an internal space, Kruger ex poses these never before seen grounds to the public. I believe that Barbara Kruger is most definitely an artist that is worthy of attention; she has inspired a new sphere of, but not confined to, graphic design. Her work is a prime example of ‘Spatial practive’, whereby, she completes a space by exposing it in its entirety, not only its internal elements. This dissertation will tackle in depth the significance of ‘spatial practice’ and ‘site specificity’, and how exactly Barbara Kruger utilizes this in her work to challenge society. It will also discuss the societal impact and influences her pieces have produced. Kruger is often misunderstood, and it not always conceived as narrated in the brief description above. Her role, her purpose and her intention are often contested; some critics comment that she is merely a political agitator. Kruger’s stance in the artistic, political and social worlds will be thoroughly examined. Despite critiq ue, this dissertation will focus on bringing forward the argument that Kruger employs site specificity as a tool for accusation, uncovering conflict ,but not for mass commercialization or for creating acts of violence. Another element that I would focus upon is a critic, David Deitcher who questions that Barbara Kruger is not easily categorized because of her self-constructed identity. ‘Her work has both a place and a strategic role within contemporary artistic discourse’ (Goldstein, A, 2000, p.25). This will be an argument that the dissertation would bring forward how Barbara Kruger’s figure of speech and her presentable artworks effects her ‘strategic role’ and how it brings her practice into external sites and not within a space. At last but not least, this dissertation would analyze the genre feminism in Kruger’s work and how it affected the women by observing her piece of work and what reality brings forward to them. Throughout these chap ters, artworks by Barbara Kruger would be analyzed in depth and how her works have influenced and affected the society and as well how these artworks can resurface the hidden truth of the political society. This will also relate to Jean Baudrillard theories in the context that Barbara Kruger can connect her work to. â€Å"Simulation is no longer that of a territory, a referential being or a substance. It is the generation by models of a real without origin or reality; a hyperreal† (Baudrillad, 2008, p.342). Chapter 1: Site Specificity This chapter delves into the site specificity in Barbara Kruger’s works. Site specificity is defined as ‘artworks take location into account in large scale work’, and the reason for examining this topic is because Kruger has considered the space in her works in attempting to establish relationships