therkive's review
5.0
Barbara Kruger is honestly one of my favorite artists. I saw Kruger’s exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago and recently purchased the book that went along with the exhibition. To me, her art makes me feel an anger at the world that would otherwise not exist had we lived in a utopia. Her work on the government through technology from the 1970s foreshadows our current day—with private data collection constantly occurring through smart devices, social media, and security consoles. Kruger’s art forces the viewer to engage with sociopolitical commentary, regardless of the time that they view the piece in—her work critiquing the conservative and capitalist aspects of American society remains relevant to this day, and even more telling of the direction the society is running towards. Her use of billboards and murals, that could then be displayed on the news during the pandemic, as the BLM protests and police brutality gained more numbers, showcased the point of her work— to expose the -isms and -phobias for what they are: hate and fear. Whether this is invasion of data privacy, the control of people’s bodies, the fear of queer and/or Black folk— Kruger makes sure to reveal the ugly and dark sides of society that conservatives are otherwise too blind to see.
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