{"data":{"id":"2635","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":2635,"topgoose_id":1866,"tms_id":2635,"display_name":"Barbara Kruger","sort_name":"Kruger Barbara","display_date":"1945–","begin_date":"1945","end_date":"0","biography":"\u003cp\u003eBarbara Kruger studied at Syracuse University and then Parsons School of Design, where her instructors included the photographer \u003ca href=\"/artists/4285\"\u003eDiane Arbus\u003c/a\u003e and the graphic designer \u003ca href=\"/artists/643\"\u003eMarvin Israel\u003c/a\u003e, art director at the fashion magazine \u003cem\u003eHarper’s\nBazaar\u003c/em\u003e at the time. She began her career in commercial art, designing book covers and working as an editorial designer at Condé Nast on publications such as \u003cem\u003eMademoiselle\u003c/em\u003e. After initiating her fine art practice with abstract paintings and woven wall hangings, Kruger arrived at her signature aesthetic by the early 1980s—the juxtaposition of provocative catchphrases (slogans she appropriates or formulates herself), printed in bold blocks of text, with found and often vintage photographic imagery. These graphic combinations of text and image, often bordered in red, dramatize— and call into question—the effect of the contemporary mass media in shaping identity, desire, and structures of power. Kruger implicates her audience through the use of neutral pronouns such as \u003cem\u003eyou\u003c/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003ewe\u003c/em\u003e, and viewers must work to untangle the often ambiguous relationship between her texts and images. \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/34103\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eUntitled\n(We Don’t Need Another Hero)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e pairs the lyric from a 1985 Tina Turner song with a photograph of children performing stereotypical adult gender roles: the boy flexes his bicep and makes a macho expression while the girl, in her dress and pigtails, is his eager admirer.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKruger works in a range of\nscales and across diverse media, including\nunconventional contexts for art; her\nphotomontages might be encountered as\nbillboards, on T-shirts, or as posters.\nSince the 1990s, her practice has expanded\nto encompass large-scale installations\nthat feature video and audio components\nin addition to photos and text, as well\nas public art projects.\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500118792","wikidata_id":"Q262284","created_at":"2017-08-30T16:40:24.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-04-12T07:02:30.578-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/2635/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/2635/exhibitions"}}}}