Barbara Kruger & Mercantillism

I shop therefore I am (1987) Barbara Kruger

Face It (Green) 2007 Barbara Kruger

Both of Barbara Krugers’ works are quite simple. However, the impact comes from the aggressive words. She uses words such as ‘I’ and ‘you’. This generally makes the viewer reflect on themselves. “Kruger's colors are nearly always absolute black, white and red--perennial propagandists' favorites.” (Plagen, P, 1999.)

Barbara is from America, where they have different levels of society. The first work is “a statement against American consumerism”. (Sheela, 2009.)  Barbara used a black and white photo of a child’s hand holding a red sign framed in a red box which giving you a very strong statement. The statement makes the viewer stop and think what the message might be. “I shop therefore I am” means a person is defined by what they own. This statement is about consumerism.

The second work is also about consumerism and desire. The desire comes from wanting to make yourself rich or beautiful through possessing a material item, when in fact you may not be either.

If both works reached the correct audience, such as being printed in an upper-class magazine, then yes, it would have been effective. The first work makes you want to own something that will directly reflect you. You may want to make a statement through this purchase. The second work has a nice piece of shiny fabric. This means owning something luxurious doesn’t make you a nice person.

The mercantilism concept is over 200 years old. The focus was on making the country rich. The best example I can find is from the Investopedia website: “The main goal was to increase a nation's wealth by imposing government regulation concerning all of the nation's commercial interests. It was believed that national strength could be maximized by limiting imports via tariffs and maximizing exports.”  (Mercantilism, n.d.) This means locally produced items were protected by enforcing tariffs on imports and relaxing them on exports. The first work connects with this concept by saying buy New Zealand made products, because you are from New Zealand. The second work has a similar idea to the first. Generally, a luxurious item is expensive and might come from France or Italy, whereas a beautiful item from New Zealand will have a fair price tag on it.

   

    photographs by jesse david harris

Between being born and dying (2009). This installation was displayed at the Lever House Art Collection in New York. This is very different from her previous work, because this is 3D and the viewer can walk inside the work. The writing attempts to bring back memories from peoples live. She uses black-and-white text questions to ask the audience about power, gender roles, social relationships, political issues, consumerism, and individual autonomy and desire.

I think this work is incredible because everybody who reads it will relate to an individual experience from the past. For example "Plenty should be enough," tells me not to be too greedy, I should cherish what I have now.  "In violence we forget who we are" (a quote from Mary McCarthy) brings em the memory when I had a fight with my boyfriend and I was so angry and mad. I threw anything I could reach at him. That's not me. “A rich man’s jokes are always funny.” This might bring back memories from your first job, when the boss told a joke, that was not funny, but you felt you had to laugh, because he was buying you lunch today or paying your wages tomorrow.

References

Barbara kruger: between being born and dying. (2009).

      from http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/10/view/7933/barbara-kruger-between-being-born-and-dying.html

Barbara Kruger The Art History Archive- Feminist Art. (n.d.) 
      from http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/feminist/Barbara-Kruger.html

Mercantilism. (n.d.)

      from http://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/mercantilism.asp

Plagen, P. (1999, October 25). Working with words, Newsweek, p.85

Sheela, R. (2009) Barbara Kruger’s “I shop therefore I am”. Retrieved September 14, 2009,

      from http://www.dukevisualstudies.org/artsvis54/?p=757