Barbara Kruger
THIS WEEK on the GWA Podcast, @katy.hessel interviews is one of the world's most influential artists: Barbara Kruger.\n\nHailed for her distinctive poster-style language, Kruger merges text and image to bring attention to urgent political concerns. Bold, loud and readily available, her tabloid-esque works confront everyday issues. And, evocative of advertising, have the ability to bring meaning to often meaningless signage.\xa0\n\nBorn in Newark, NJ, and educated at Syracuse then Parsons, where she was taught by the late great Diane Arbus, Kruger began as an art director for Cond\xe9 Nast, where she shaped her visual language. As she has said, \u201cI had the luxury of working with the best technology ... I became attached to sans serif type, especially Futura and Helvetica, which I chose because they could really cut through the grease.\u201d\n\nFast forward to the 1970s and 80s \u2013\xa0a highly political moment in America: especially for the control over one\u2019s body \u2013\xa0and Kruger is culminating text/images that speak to Laura Mulvey\u2019s landmark 1975 essay on the male gaze, \u201cVisual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema", and that\xa0protest anti abortion laws. Her work defined a new type of art that directly addressed power and control, championing the rights we should have over our bodies, life and world.\xa0\n\nToday, she is still at the forefront with her work\xa0\u2013 immersive and on the wall \u2013 that feels familiar due to its evocation of the machine we know as capitalism, that both drives us and that we drive. For those lucky enough to be in London, Kruger is very excitingly having her first institutional show in London in over 20 years, at Serpentine Galleries: Thinking of\xa0You. I Mean\xa0Me. I Mean You. Opening TODAY, until 17 March 2024.\n\n--\n\nTHIS EPISODE IS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY THE LEVETT COLLECTION:\n\nhttps://www.instagram.com/famm.mougins // https://www.merrellpublishers.com/9781858947037\n\nENJOY!!!\n\nFollow us:\nKaty Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel\nSound editing by Nada Smiljanic\nMusic by Ben Wetherfield