Being beautiful is not the goal of conceptual art. Its purpose is to make a point and engage your mind as well as your eye. Few artist do this as successfully as Barbara Kruger. Because her current Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You exhibition at the Art Institute showcases the exceptionalism of her work so well, it’s been enjoying robust attendance since it opened in mid-September.
It seems unusual for an artist, but for Kruger words are as important as image in her work. Text and image are often combined to boost the impact of the other. A lot of her art feels like commentary. But as you take it in, it can also be interpreted as the reflections of a shrewd observer. A large graphic image of the human brain would be enough be stimulate a seminal response in our minds. But when three lines of blunt text are overlaid subtly over the graphic, the combination becomes an incisive statement. “In the beginning, there is crying. In the middle, there is confusion. In the end, there is silence.” Personhood encapsulated in three sentences and a picture. As powerful as this piece of art is, it only hints at the breadth and force of the exhibit itself.
How an artist finds her artistic voice, that thing that distinguishes her from everyone else, can sometimes sound extraordinary and other times simply inevitable. Often, it starts with an introduction to a specific form of art and evolves into a radical reinterpretation of that same form. Kruger hails from that camp. She trained at prestigious arts schools and entered the world of design and fashion in the 70’s with notable success. In her view, “it was a cut and paste” world. You’d match image to words to generate a desire for a product or an ideal someone could see themselves aspiring to. Eventually, for Kruger, that wasn’t enough. She craved to create things that had meaning. Based on her early work, which is also on display in the exhibition, she started small. Now, almost fifty years later and broadened to incorporate video, digital imagery and outrageous scale, her art not only has meaning, it makes your consciousness sizzle.
Initially, her artwork, especially her larger more contemporary pieces, can be jolting. Targeting both the eye and the mind, Kruger can strike each simultaneously with force. Imagine walking into a very large room with an imposingly lofty ceiling. All of the walls are crisp bright white and covered in dramatically large text in bold face. You, the observer, have been dwarfed to insignificance. Engulfed, all that matters is what the words are saying. Here, it’s a barrage of statements about what happens “in the end”. And they all seem directed only to you. “IN THE END, SOMETHING ELSE BEGINS, IN THE END, YOU’VE HAD YOUR CHANCE, IN THE END, LIES PREVAIL.” The list continues and flows down the wall from ceiling to floor and has been known to even cover the floor. If these declarations didn’t seem so insightful, you’d confuse them for propaganda because the medium is so starkly declarative and domineering.
It’s useful to know when visiting Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You, that the artist sees and consciously incorporates humor in her work. Without this knowledge, it would be easy to view much of it as a dark indictment of ourselves and our culture. One of her more famous renderings, I Shop Therefore I Am, created in the 90s, almost always stirs a smile because it’s impossible not to recognize and find kinship in the satire nestled in its truth. I Shop Therefore I Am also shows how something created thirty years ago can be re-fashioned for the age of electric cars and Squid Games. Originally just text and an image superimposed on a paper shopping bag, its current concept fills an entire room. The message has the same resonance, but its impact has been supercharged.
Beyond the distinctiveness of Kruger’s approach to art and her gift of filling it with meaning and purpose, she is imminently successful in other important ways. Her art makes us reassess ourselves and can cause us to question what we value and why. These abilities help explain the staying power of her art. Much of it feels as pertinent and applicable today as it did when it was created; often decades ago. It can even act as a leveler by providing or reminding us of an alternative vision for navigating through the complexities of life. In that sense, Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You can leave you revitalized. Here through the January, Kruger’s art might prove, for some, a potent respite from the ferocity of the holidays.
Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You
Through January 24, 2022
Art Institute of Chicago/Rice Building
111 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60603