Professor Cacoilo
Art and Women
01/23/2017
Barbara Kruger
Barbara Kruger was on January 26, 1945 in Newark, New Jersey. Although she was raised in a lower middle-class lifestyle, she went on to attend Syracuse University and later Parsons School of Design in New York where she studied art and design. Even though Barbara was successful after leaving school and landed jobs such as being a graphic designer, art director, and picture editor, she was never satisfied with her life. It was not until the 1980s where her satisfaction flourished as she incorporated brief phrases onto pictures, which is what most of her work consist of.
Untitled, "Gender is irrelevant"
What Barbara was trying to say in this art work is that gender is not a factor relating to what a person can or cannot do. Simply having one side with lipstick and the other with facial hair depicts the stereotypical norms that is associated with each gender. In order for an individual to freely pursue what he or she wants in life without stigmatization, then society must abolish the gender roles, which has long limited people's actions.
Untitled, "We don't need another hero"
In this work by Barbara, a young boy is flexing his arms to a girl. What she may be trying to say is that women do not need a hero to protect them. They are perfectly capable of protecting themselves. Given the phrase, " we don't need another hero", it can be implied that a hero already exists within the picture. That "hero" is the girl, and the boy does not have to flex his arms in order to show his strength and capability of protecting her. Barbara may in fact be showing how there's a notion in society that a typical "hero" is a man, which she believes is not always the case.
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